'J Li-'JJUMlLlj] 



_^r r.rU'Qf ji 




Pass I . f:^ r'^ 



Book- 






/ 



3 



»^-f»/a?iCi33!5»--- . 





•^ 



THE 



LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 



OF 



DR. LKWIS F. LLNN, 



FOR TEX YKARS A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES FROM 
THE STATE OF MISSOURI. 



BY 



E. A. LLNX AND N. SAIIGEXT. 



.''^'"c*^ 



NEW YOIIK: 
D . A P P L E T N AND C ^I P A N Y , 

346 Jb 848 BROADWAY. 

M.DCCC.IVIL 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States 
for the Southern District of New York. 



IMIKFACE. 

Thk present volume has been pitpared in ol)e(lien(e to 
what soemed to the writrr to Ik* a eall from tliosc. • the 
pioneers of the ^reat vallev of th«- .Mi><issippi and their 
(hxt iidants, " iMtween whom and Dcxtor Linn there 
was, durini: Ins hfctime, a long snhsistin^' assiKJation, 
a mntn:i ;ii and intenhange of good otlices, which 

from the U'ginning lH«eaine more ami more intimate 
and cordial, nntil the ties which thns honnd them to- 
gether Win- severed by the haml of death. 

I Vw men were mon- thoronghly identified with " the 
(inat \N «Nt " than Dr. Linn, and no one took a livelier 
intcn-vf ill all that eoneenieil the great Valhy of the 
.M j»j)i and its enterprising |H"ople, or labored with 

greater zeal t«) dcvelojK? its n-.sonrees, o|)en and impnnc 
its highways, by land and water, with a view to exi)e- 
dite the (K*cn|mtion of its rich soil and inviting climate 
!>y the trm|Mnite stms of toil from the Kast. and t(» fa- 
eilitate its eunnuercial intereours*' with other |)arts of 
the cuiiiitf}'. 

It is gratifving to know that the .'»nbji( i ol this 
meint ■ rcmendH-n-d thnaigh the frnils of his labors, 
by thnii>amis to whtmi he wais n(»t |Hrsonallv known, 
l)nt <»f whos*' interests, while he (Krnpied a scat in the 
Senate of the I'nited States, he was never nnmimlfnl or 
negh'<-tive ; and that his memor>' is still afU'(t innately 
cherished bv other thon.samls to wlu)m lie endeared 



4 PREFACE. 

himself in a personal interconrse of many years as their 
neighbor, friend, physician, and senator, in each of 
which relations he failed not to win and retain their 
love and respect. 

There are still others who have not forgotten the 
persevering labors of Dr. Linn, in their behalf, and 
whose memory is held by them in grateful regard for 
his unceasing efforts to secure the noble country which 
is now vocal with the voices of civihzed man, whose 
flocks and herds, fields and farms cover its green hills 
and fruitful valleys, — the pioneers of Oregon. It is in 
obedience also to their wishes that this memoir of him 
whose name is so intimately connected with Oregon 
has been prepared. 

Aside from, and in addition to, these calls, it seemed 
to be proper that some record of the services of one who 
labored so faithfully for others and for his country, 
should be preserved for those who for years, perhaps 
centuries, hence, will enjoy the fruits of those labors. 
This task I have endeavored to perform, and to inscribe 
his name upon a tablet composed of his own good 
deeds ; and I need not say that it has been to me a 
labor of love as well as of duty. If it has not been 
done with artistic excellence, I know that the kind in- 
dulgence of friends will see in the ivill all that is want- 
ing in the skill. My endeavor has been less to present 
a finished picture, than to body forth a true portrait of 
one whose every feature, physical and moral, I have 
reason to know so well, and to remember with so much 
affection. E. A. Linn. 

LiNwooD CoTTA(iE, Booiiville, Missouri. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 



CHAPTER I. 

Dr. Lewis Pields Linn, the subject of this biography, 
was born on the 5th of November, 1795, near the 
present city of Louisvme, in the State of Kentucky. 
He was the grandson of the heroic Col. AVilhani Linn 
of the Revolution. His parents emigrated from Penn- 
sylvania at that early period of our national history 
when there were few white people living on the banks 
of the Ohio River. Those who had already pushed 
their hardy fortunes so far into the wilderness and 
upon its watercourses, dwelt in small settlements 
scattered over the forests, and far apart from each 
other. The prosperous and powerful States which now 
skirt both margins of the Ohio River, were at that 
remote day the lumting grounds and fastnesses of 
roving Indian tribes, against whose ferocity neither 
age nor sex was a shield— against the property and 
lives of the white inhabitants they waged a harassing 



6 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

and incessant warfare, and seldom if ever spared one 
or the other when fortune gave them the advantage in 
their incursions. 

Both the grandparents of Dr. Linn, Avith seven 
members of their family, fell victims to the merciless 
and bloody scalping-knife of the savages. His intrepid 
and chivalrous grandfather, Col. Linn, espoused the 
cause of the Colonies and took up arms for their 
liberties at the dawn of the American Revolution ; he 
constantly remained active in the service of his country 
throughout that long struggle, so perilous and sangui- 
nary to the frontier and its infant communities ; and 
then sealed a life of devotion and patriotism by his 
death in battle against the Indians. He lived, how- 
ever, to behold the Lidependence for which he had 
striven for so many years secured to his country ; and 
some years after its estabhshment fell, ovenvhelmed 
by numbers, in a conflict with the Indians near Louis- 
ville, on the Ohio River. 

An accurate and eloquent annalist of the West, the 
gifted Mr. Mann Butler of St. Louis, Missouri, thus 
relates an achievement characteristic of the indomitable 
spirit of Col. Linn, and the race from which he sprung : 

" While the pioneers were thus bravely defending 
themselves against appalling numbers of savage enemies, 
the government of the parent State was not inattentive 
to the interest of their Western children. By a stretch 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 



of diplomacy scarcely to have been expected in so 
young, a State, just sprung out of colonial bondage, yet 
still used to much independent care of her wide and 
exposed dominion, the Executive of Virginia dispatched 
a mission to New Orleans for the pmiwsc of procuring 
military supplies for her Western ports. The officers 
sent on this perilous mission were Colonels Gibson and 
Linn, the grandfather of the late Dr. Lewis F. Linn, 
the much-lamented senator from the State of Missouri. 
These gentlemen went from Fort Pitt, and descended 
the Mississippi River in 1776, to New Orleans, by 
order, it is presumed, from the Governor of Virginia. 
So extraordinaiy an advcntm^e may well rec^uire par 
ticular confirmation for the satisfaction of the reader, 
and it can be furnished to a most remarkable deoree. 
John Smith, lately, that is, in 1833, a resident of 
Woodford County, State of Kentucky, was, in 1776, 
employed in reconnoitring the country with James 
Harod, so eminently distinguished in the difficulties 
and dangers of Kentucky. On their return the com- 
panions separated ; Ilarod to go to North Carolina, 
and Smith to Potter's Creek on the Monongahela. 
While travelling on the bank of the Ohio River, the 
latter discovered Gibson and Linn with their party 
descending the river ; they hailed Smith and prevailed 
on him to embark on this, one of the l)ol(lcst of 
Western adventm-es. The party succeeded in their 



8 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

object with the Spanish government at New Orleans 
by obtaining one hundred and fifty-six kegs of gun- 
powder. Mr. Smith helped to carry around the Falls 
of the Ohio River this powder to the mouth of Bear 
Grass Creek, in the spring of 1777 ; each man carried 
three kegs along the portage, one at a time ; this gun- 
powder was delivered at Wheeling or Fort Heniy, and 
thence conveyed to Fort Pitt." Independent of this 
particularity of circumstances, learned from an old and 
most venerable citizen of Louisville, (the late Worden 
Pope, Esq., long a clerk, with imtainted reputation to 
the highest courts of law in Jefferson County, Ken- 
tucky,) it was solemnly deposed to in a suit of law by 
a very respectable party in the transaction ; it was 
frequently mentioned by Col. Linn in his lifetime, and 
is still known in 1833, as his information in the family 
left by this gallant and most energetic man. To this 
may be weU added the manner in which he met his 
death, and the heroic firmness of his last moments. 
A few years after the United States had gained their 
independence from the yoke of England, Col. Linn set 
out at the head of sixty armed men on a march against 
a body of hostile Indians who had foraged the White 
settlements and taken many lives. At a point near 
what was called Linn's Station, not far from Louisville, 
his party was met by a force of three hmidred Indian 
warriors, avIio had received full intelligence of his ap- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 9 

proacli, and mustered in strength to receive him. The 
savages were composed of the most daring and vindic- 
tive of the predatory bands infesting the great bend 
of the Ohio River ; they were acquainted ^vith all 
forms assumed by border warfare between the Red Men 
and the frontier settlements ; apart from desultory 
affrays many of them had borne part in the most 
memorable engagement which had, as yet, taken place 
upon this continent between a regular army in the 
field, and Aboriginal warriors ; withm thirty years their 
tribes had fought under the French banner against 
Washington and Braddock, and they were now arrayed 
within a few days' march from that disastrous battle- 
ground. The Indians were inspired with furious ani- 
mosity against Col. Linn — his knowledge of their 
character and stratagems, his superior sagacity and 
dauntless intrepedity, his genius in border warfare, 
and the frequency with which they had been defeated 
by him ; the dread insei)arable from his name ; the 
confidence and courage with which his protection in- 
spired the weak and isolated societies of his partisans ; 
added to the frightful chastisements with which he had 
repeatedly visited their common enemy, combined to 
render him, for long years, an object of deadly hatred 
and hereditary revenge. This was the era of Indian 
combination and preconcerted movements ; his destruc- 
tion appeared inevitable, and would open the way to 



10 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

sweep every stranger from the land ; but in order to 
glut every horrid passion of their swarthy race, they 
determined to take him alive ; his death could have 
been easily effected as he led on and encouraged his 
men. Suddenly a cry arose in the English tongue, 
" Take him ! take him alive ! take him alive ! we want 
to eat his heart ! " Instead of aiming at the vital 
parts of his person, they fired volley after volley below 
his knees, until his feet were shot to pieces and the 
bones of his legs broken. When he fell the braves 
rushed in to disarm and bear him off alive ; but they 
found him in his last hour the same avenging implaca- 
ble foe they had dreaded through life. Gaining his 
knees, the dying hero grappled with his enemies, giving 
and receiving many a death wound before he expired. 
Of them he slew, hand to hand, seven, before his arm 
was rendered nerveless by death. 

It is a just reflection, that the most extraordinary 
acts of fortitude and brilliant valor which excite our 
admiration in history, have been evinced in the retro- 
grade and not onward course of armies. Gallant 
retreats and daring passages, whilst they warm our 
sympathies lead us to forget that certain destruction 
was willingly exchanged for the chances and probabil- 
ities of self-extrication, and that chivalry alone which 
dazzles the mind in the face of death can best explain 
the steady onward course of our early emigration to 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 11 

the barriers held by savage races, and the strange 
inflexibihty with which they penetrated the fertile 
region and mountain lab}Tinths beyond them. The 
task was always to force new avenues and never to 
retreat by old ones. Reviewing the occupation of 
districts in ancient Virginia before their erection into 
separate States, we are arrested by the number of ap- 
palling nuirders in Massachusetts; — forts surprised; 
block-houses given to the flames ; and other evidences 
of civilization and industiy reduced to ashes. The 
heroic conduct of a vast number of our admirable 
countrywomen during those distressing times, must be 
a source of great pleasure to their descendaius. 

The mother of Dr. Linn, whose maiden name was 
Ann Himter, when only fifteen years of age, 'conveyed 
provisions on two several occasions, into forts invested 
by the Indians, to save, not only members of her own 
family, but others who with tliem Avere suffering for 
food; young, active, and possessing great resolution, 
^liss Ann Hunter eluded detection from the keenest 
human vision, and with her own hands carried into the 
forts food for her suffering friends. 

Mr. Asael Linn, the father of Dr. Linn, accom- 
panied four young gentlemen from his father's residence 
near Louisville, on the Ohio River, in pursuit of wild 
game. Carried away with the ardor of the chase, they 
had gone some distance from home before they were 



12 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

aware of it, when they suddenly found themselves 
surrounded by a number of hostile Indians. Resistance 
was vain. After one of their party was wounded in 
the leg they were secured as captives by the savages, 
and forced across the Ohio River. The Indians 
travelled at a rapid pace, fearing piusuit from the white 
settlements. Lewis Fields, although suffering greatly 
from the wound in his leg, kept his place among the 
prisoners with the utmost difficulty. The savages cast 
looks of impatience and anger upon him whenever he 
relaxed the speed at which they were proceeding. 
Young Asael Linn, scarcely twelve years of age, pressed 
on before his wounded friend, and removed every 
obstacle in his power when he arrived at difficult 
passes ; another companion made a rough crutch for 
Lewis, which enabled him to keep up with the captors 
and the captured. It was by the most strenuous efforts 
on his part and the aid of his friends, that his life was 
saved, for the Indians required but the least pretext to 
determine upon his instant death ; for, whenever he 
attempted to rest for a moment, they grasped their 
weapons to kill him. Young Linn's efforts were solel}^ 
to save his friend Lewis Fields. He felt convinced 
that his own death was resolved upon as soon as they 
should reach the village of their tribe ; for, as the son 
of Col. Linn, the great white warrior, there was no 
hope for him. To watch his lingering death woidd be 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 13 

grateful to the savage wretches who had so often 
\\Tithed under the blows of his father. At length, 
after journeying incessantly for three days, so great a 
distance had been put between them and the Ohio 
River, that they supposed themselves safe from pursuit. 
They made an encampment, binding their captives to 
trees, leaving two old Indians to guard them, while 
the young dispersed to hunt in the wilderness. They 
judged the youth of Linn and the presence of the old 
savages a sufficient security for his remaining at large 
near his companions. The sequel shows how much 
they had miscalcidated the energy and nei-ve of a 
border youth, partaking of the blood of Col. William 
Linn. When the shade of night had descended, young 
Linn was made to lie down flat upon the ground : the 
two old Lulians spread a blanket over him, placing 
themselves on the edge of it on both sides of the brave 
boy, wedging him in between them, compressed by 
the blanket with tlieir weight upcm it. In a short time 
the old men, overpowered with fatigue, fell into a deep 
sleep. Linn watched then- movements with intense 
anxiety, and when convinced his captors were asleep, 
conunenced with great dexterity and presence of mind 
to draw his person from under the blanket witliout 
disturbing those upon it ; for if awakened, his death 
would not have been delayed one moment. When 
liberated from his painful situation, the first object 



14 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

Linn beheld was one of his companions, Mr. Wells, 
bound to a tree near him ; and seeing from the gleams 
of light sent forth from the watch-fire, a tomahawk 
near to his hand, he seized it, and soon cut the cords 
that bound his friend. Mr. Wells made him a sign 
to retain the weapon, and arming himself with another, 
they di'ew near to their blood-thirsty foes, and in an 
instant bui'ied their tomahawks in the heads of the 
Indians. Weakened in frame, and of the most humane 
disposition, in spite of the justice and necessity of the 
act, Linn's heart recoiled from putting a sleeping enemy 
to death, and the wound he inflicted, although com- 
pletely stunning in its effect, did not produce death, 
but left a hideous and distorting mutilation on the face 
of the savage. Li a few moments the captives were 
liberated from the cords that were cutting into their 
flesh. Collecting in great haste a few fragments of 
food, securing all the hatchets and knives they could 
find for their defence, and concealing the guns, (as the 
Indians might at any instant be so near their path as 
to hear a report from them, and the weight of them 
would retard their flight,) before the light of day (a 
bitter cold morning in the month of November) these 
five boys, not one of them out of his teens (Linn not 
twelve years old), commenced their flight tln'ough the 
A\ilderness towards the Ohio River, half starved, almost 
naked, and bearing with them one of their number. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 15 

wounded, sore and crippled. Poor Lewis Fields suf- 
fered so nuicli from his inflamed MOund in consequence 
of the great exertions he was compelled to make, that 
he frequently stopped and implored his friends to leave 
him to his fate, and save themselves by retreating more 
rapidly than it was possible to do while he continued 
with them ; but the faithful httle band of friends, deaf 
to his self-devoting proposition, urged him forward by 
every act of friendship and encouragement until, through 
indescribable suffering of hunger, cold and lassitude, 
they stood once more on the bank of the Ohio River. 
Fortunately they could all swim, and it was only 
necessary to construct from the limbs of trees and 
drift-wood on the shore, a raft large enough to bear 
their disabled friend, and push it before them while 
swimming across the river. Linn was so nmch ex- 
hausted that his friends feared he would perish in the 
water, and urged him to get on the raft with Fields ; 
but the gallant boy declined their friendly ofl'cr, assur- 
ing them that his fothcr had taught him to swim very 
well, and that he was still strong enough to assist in 
getting their frieiul across the river. At the moment 
the raft was launched into the water, the distant yell 
of the Lidians in pursuit was heard. They had struck 
the trail of the youths and were now almost upon them. 
Straining every nerve, the gallant boys soon gained the 
middle of the river, while the frail raft appeared as if 



16 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 



it woiild go to pieces under the slight weight of Fields. 
As the Indians arrived one after another at the water's 
edge, they fired at the fugitives, but fortunately the 
distance was so great they were unable to do them any 
injury; and the reports of their guns attracted the 
attention of some settlers working on the Kentucky 
side of the river, who immediately came to their 
relief. Although exhausted and half dead, Linn 
still retained his hold upon the raft, but entirely in- 
sensible, and at first it was thought he had expired. 
He v/as carried home, and after remaining for three 
days wholly unconscious, awoke to a sense of external 
things in the arms of his mother. His life was spared, 
and he grew up to a manhood of great energy and 
exalted worth. Many years afterwards, when the 
country had become peaceful, Linn met his old enemy 
the Lidian, whom in his boyhood he had deprived of 
so large a portion of his face, and, touched with his 
horrid appearance, bestowed on him an annuity for life. 
The mother of Dr. Linn was married twice. Her 
name, it has already been stated, was Ann Hunter. 
This admirable and courageous lady did not live to see 
an event unknown to the history of any other family 
in our country, both of her sons and one of her grand- 
sons Senators of the United States Senate, at periods 
nearly simidtaneous. Her first marriage was contracted 
with Mr. Israel Dodge, of Louisville, the father of the 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 17 

Hon. Henry Dodge, United States Senator from the 
State of Wisconsm, and of Mrs. Nancy Sifton of St. 
Louis, Missouri. After the loss of her first husband, 
Mrs. Dodge was united to Mr. Asael Linn of Louis- 
ville, Kentucky. Lewis Fields Linn and Mary Ann 
Linn were their only offspring who siu:vived to maturity. 

Much might here be said of the half brother of 
Dr. Linn, but these are not the pages to narrate the 
eventful life of Senator Henry Dodge, for they are 
devoted to the memory of one whose being was derived 
from the same beloved mother, and among its dearest 
recollections may justly be inscribed the tender affection 
that bound her two sons together ; yet there is one, who 
deems it her privilege to say that for long years, with 
thrilling pleasure, she lias witnessed the truth, honor, 
magnanimity, and heroic firmness, so conspicuous in 
the character of a husband's only brother, and equally 
so in that brother's son, the Hon. Augustus C. Dodge. 

The death of both their parents left Lewis F. Linn 
and his sister INIary orphans early in life ; the latter 
being thirteen years of age and her brother twelve 
years old. Between the brother and sister a remark- 
able similarity of character and personal resemblance 
existed ; both had the same resolution and precocious 
self-reliance, with the same elevated and fearless spirit ; 
they both possessed great personal beauty, set off by 
gentle unassummg manners ; both were equally en- 



18 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

dowed with guileless, generous hearts — ever anxious to 
perform for their friends the most liberal and unselfish 
sendees. Unhappily the cheerful and buoyant spirits 
which Miss Linn had at all times possessed, and which 
bore her up under the greatest misfortunes and afflic- 
tions, were frequently overcast and oppressed in the 
temperament of her brother. She was always animated 
and full of hope, while he at times from his infancy 
labored under a great depression of mind : the fatal 
disease of the heart which cut him off prematurely 
from a world, fast learning to love and admire him, 
affected his health and induced periods of the greatest 
despondency. The knowledge he attained of his pro- 
fession in early life, informed him too sm-ely of the 
teniu-e by which his existence was held. When these 
melancholy moments weighed him down, he never re- 
pined, but by his touching sweetness of temper, and 
unaffected gratitude to those around him for their kind 
attentions and sympathy, drew them still nearer to him, 
and opened too fully their hearts to the anguish of his 
own predictions. He was left, it has just been stated, 
at the age of twelve years, to struggle for the future. 
Resolved that it should be an honorable one to him, as 
soon as his fifteenth year was attained he commenced a 
course of self-education. Making use of every means 
in his power, he endeavored to compensate for that 
want of early academical education inevitable in all 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 19 

new countries, and commenced the study of medicine 
with Dr. Gault, of Louisville. 

Among the predilections of his earliest boyhood 
Dr. Linn evinced a strong inclination to devote himself 
to the profession of medicine, and following his desires 
on this subject, his health became seriously impaired 
by unremitting application to his studies, and at the 
end of two years it became necessary for him to resort 
to some relaxation from his labor and enjoy a period 
of leisure and change of scene. He proceeded to St. 
Genevieve, in Missouri, to visit his sister Maiy, (who 
was then married to Mr. McArthur,) and his half 
brother, Gen. Henry Dodge. During his residence 
with these relatives the war with Great Britain broke 
out. No siu-geon being attached to the troops com- 
manded by Gen. Dodge, he accompanied them in that 
capacity, and at the close of the campaign, with restored 
health and an increased desire to pursue his mechcal 
studies, he returned to Louisville, and continued some 
time with Dr. Gaidt, and ultimately proceeded to Phil- 
adelphia for the purpose of endjracing the facilities and 
advantages that city has always afforded to medical 
students. The presence of his sister and half brother 
at St. Genevieve decided Dr. Linn to make that place 
his residence and the field of his professional pursuits. 
By his own energy and ability he had mastered one 
of the most honorable and benevolent callings of 



20 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

civilized society ; and at the age of twenty-one fonnd 
himself established as a physician in one of the most 
refined and intelligent commnnities of the West. 

At the period Dr. Linn established himself in St. 
Genevieve, it retained the distinguishing characteristics 
impressed upon it by its original settlers. They 
bestowed the name of the " Glorieuse patronne de 
Paris " upon this, their new home in the " far west," and 
from the banks of the Seine transplanted thither, with 
then' cherished faith, all the amenities of a high civili- 
zation, the attentive pohteness, the cultivated and 
polished manners, and the chivalrous gallantry peculiar 
to the true son of Prance. These primordial bless- 
ings, now transmitted through many successive genera- 
tions, are sparklingly salient over the surface of society 
in this and other quiet communities of similar origin, 
and cannot escape the notice of the least incurious 
observer. Perhaps it may be considered out of place 
in a narrative like this to present these facts, but there 
is so much misconception of the true character of these 
most estimable citizens ; so much hateful prejudice, and 
almost inexcusable ignorance relative to them, that one 
who went among them a stranger, of other affinity, 
association, habits, education, and religion, vividly re- 
taining a remembrance of the numberless kindnesses 
received at their hands during a long series of years, 
is impelled by a feeling of gratitude and a sense of 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 21 

justice, to endeavor, however feebly, to dispel these 
most erroneous, though commonly received opinions. 
A proper information would have prevented many, well- 
intended, from having been betrayed into speech and 
action, the impression of which they subsequently 
deemed necessary to erase by a mortifying apology. 
With a charitable intent, it is desired most gently to 
say to any young lady who may happen to peruse these 
lines, that, if it should be her fortune in the great 
assembhes of the Atlantic cities, to meet a young 
person of her own sex from these ancient towns on the 
river or prairie, that she should not treat her as a 
semi-barbarian, and refrain joining in the invidious re- 
marks wiiich the appearance of a " Creole " may occa- 
sion. Let her receive some idea that this " creole " 
girl is better instructed in her duty to her Maker and 
towards her neighbor, than she is likely to be ; and is 
at least her equal in all the proficiencies of a polite 
education. The unlady-like conduct intimated is 
related to have occmTcd, and though politeness and 
self-respect forbade retort, others heard the unfounded 
sarcasm, and made a comparison between its modest 
subject and the pretentious beauty who so incautiously 
uttered it, far from complimentary, though she was 
the favorite of a fashionable boarding-school, and the 
belle and toast of the locality. The very word " creole " 
as usually received and applied in the more Eastern 



22 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

States, is a perversion of its meaning. The fair de- 
scendants of those who first landed at Jamestown, of 
those who were wafted in the " Ark and the Dove " 
to the land of Mary, those who came in the " May- 
flower" to the bleak shore of the " Old Colony," or in 
the succeeding ships to the more inviting ports on the 
" Bay," are properly as much Creoles (with the prefix of 
Enghsh) as their fellow countryv/omen along the great 
Father of Waters. The term Creole simply designs 
to signify the children of European parents born in 
America or the Indies, and then' descendants. As 
usually applied, it is incorrect and offensive, and being 
so, should be disused by every considerate person. 

The discovery of the Mississippi, as the remote 
initial point of interest to its settlers, was effected by 
Eernando De Soto in 1541; its shore was the ter- 
minus of aU his mundane hopes, aspirations, difficulties 
and disasters ; its depths received his, the first Christian 
coi^se, over which its waters sang its monody, and its 
current conveyed the disheartened and shattered re- 
mains of his unfortunate expedition to the Gulf of 
Mexico. The survivors made report of this acquisition 
to geographical knowledge, but from deficiency in the 
requisite science of that day, or loss of proper instru- 
ments to determine, or of leaders most competent to 
define it, the exact place of disemboguement for a long 
period was mystical. Subsequent events have shown 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 23 

the vast importance of this stupendous stream, and the 
advent of De Soto is appropriately commemorated on 
the canvas that adorns the rotunda of our national 
Capitol. 

The next approach of the European was from the 
north through Canada, which appellation is said to 
have been formed by that given in disappointment by 
the first discoverers of the sterile coast leading thereto 
— ■" Capo di Nada," or the Cape of Nothing. It was 
named New France by Jacques Cartier, who ascended 
the Saint Lawrence in 1535 as far as the Isle of 
Orleans. Before that period the French had made 
several unsuccessful essays at settlement at different 
points upon this continent. A few years afterward, 
Cartier Avith La Roche Robertval attempted to plant a 
colony, which was not more fortunate; from time to 
time others followed, but the inhos})itable climate and 
the hostility of the natives prevented all permanent 
settlement. It was not until IGOS that they Avere able 
to retain a residence. Champlain early in July of that 
year laid the foundation of Quebec, and to conciliate 
his immediate neighbors, the Hurons and Algoncpiins, 
aided them in their war with the Iroquois. He secured 
the friendship oj the first named, and the enmity of 
the warlike Iroquois contiiuied towards his countiymcn 
for nearly a century, preventing their advance south- 
ward until after the occupation of New York by the 



24 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

Dutcli and English. Dangers, suffering, and privations 
in every shape attended the feeble colony for many 
years. In 1620 there were but 100 inhabitants in 
Quebec, men, women and children. But the Erench 
had penetrated a great distance northwardly and west- 
wardly, and were sparsely settled on the trail to the 
valley of the Ottawa. The Jesuit Eathers Breboeuf 
and Daniel, had entered the wilderness as far as the 
southern shore of Lake Superior as early as 1634, by 
way of the Ottawa ; and this dangerous and difficult 
route was the one followed by the missionaries and 
voyagem's for many years, the easier way by Lake 
Ontario being closed by the hostility of the Iroquois. 
In 1659 a bishop's see was created, and Erancis de 
Leval, the proto prelate of North America arrived. In 
1665 the government of Erance considered the colony 
of such importance as to deem it fit to send thither, for 
the first time, a regiment of soldiers for its protection. 
The Erench possessed a great excellency in their new 
country by having among them a number of the much- 
abused sons of Saint Ignatius. Erom these models 
of piety, prudence and discrimination, in any emer- 
gency, they could ahvays obtain the best advice, and 
often, when within the object of their i^ission, received 
the invaluable aid of their personal assistance. These 
exemplars of true courage were ever in advance of the 
most venturesome voyageurs ; the great American 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 25 

historian says of them : " The history of then- labors 
is connected with the origin of every celebrated to^n 
in the annals of French America; not a river was 
entered, not a cape was turned, but a Jesuit led the 
way." Indeed, for many years they were the main 
stay of the feeble colony, and but for them, left as it 
was, almost entirely to its o\vn resom'ces, must have 
succumbed in their inclcmeut climate to the hostile 
natives. The ''Black Gotvn" proved a more powerful 
protection than a band of armed soldiery. 

In 1GG7, Father Allouez, being on the mission 
among the Chippewas, Sioux, Potawatamies, Sacs and 
Foxes, by his influence had reconciled their animosities 
and established peace among them. He here received 
information of a large river, unlike any that was as yet 
known in their territory to Europeans, which rolled its 
waters in a southern direction. Anxious to acquire a 
correct idea of the topography of the immense wilder- 
ness which he had entered, he retained the rude map 
which the unlettered but observant savage had depicted, 
and noting the time stated as necessary to proceed from 
one indicated point to another, attained some approach 
to information as regards distance, as well as direction. 
These faithfid symbols, with appropriate questioning, 
were placed before other succeeding })arties of aborigi- 
nal friends of a more southern residence, and received 
additions and confirmation. The French were con- 



26 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

vinced of the existence of a river of great volume of 
water, but where it would lead them they could only 
conjecture : — ^would it afford them the much-coveted 
passage to the South Sea ? or was it the lost river of 
De Soto ? It was resolved to verify their information 
and dispel their doubts, and if possible, by an expedition 
to find and examine this flow of water, which seemed 
to promise such transcendent advantages. Pather 
AUouez returned to Quebec in 1669 ; and Fathers 
Marquette and Dablon were sent to the mission at the 
Sault de Sainte Marie. At this distant point the 
Jesuits had assembled neophytes from almost all the 
tribes among whom their brethren labored ; even at 
that early day was there present a representative of 
the only tribe of the Red Men on the Atlantic border 
that yet possess a portion of their paternal heritage ; 
the long-suffering, faithful, docile, patient, and once 
powerfid Penobscot. In thus collecting the youth of 
their charge there was more than one object in view, 
aU worthy of praise and complimentary to the sagacity 
said to be peculiar to their society ; they were desirous 
those they were instructing should be free from the 
allm'ements and distractions which then* larger establish- 
ments might expose them to ; they thought to bring the 
neighboring Pagans to terms of greater amity and 
confidence, by an exhibition of the mutual affection 
between them and their pupils ; they desired also to 



/ 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 27 

be tauglit, and by teacbing, learn tbemselves ; tbey 
considered it was of primary importance tbat mission- 
aries should acquire a knoAvledge of tbe various 
languages of the people to whom they are sent, and 
it was thought by assembhng the different dialects and 
idioms in the new France, they might, by study and 
observation, discover the radix of them all, and per- 
haps construct a language intelligible to all. This last 
object they soon found to present insuperable difficul- 
ties. A philosophical writer whose attention had been 
di-awn to tliis subject (if his personal and political 
enemies are to be credited), by a veiy different motive, 
asserts that there are twenty radical languages among 
the native Americans, for one in Asia. 

After remaining at St. Marie for about two years, 
acquiring the idiom nearest the scene of his siu-vey, 
and making himself master of the unspoken language 
which has since been so serviceable to many succeeding 
adventurers through tlic wilds and over the Avastes of 
this continent, with a few select companions, Father 
Marquette commenced his arduous undertakhig; the 
charge of the material of the expechtion was intrusted 
to Joliet, an experienced trader among the Indians, 
and one variously well qualified to be of great service 
to the enterprise in which they were embarked. Their 
course was southwestwardly, and reachmg Green Bay 
ascended the Neenah or Fox River ; and over the 



28 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

portage, which, from the formation of the comitry, 
offered much less formidable obstacles than had been 
anticipated, they, through the River Ouisconsin, 
entered a great stream with a southern current, the 
object of their desire ; they descended to what is now 
the Chickasaw Bluffs. Fully convinced they had at- 
tained the great object of their voyage, they commenced 
their arduous ascent against the current ; they entered 
the Illinois, and from the head waters of that river 
crossed to the creek which enters Lake Michigan, near 
where is now the flourishuig city of Chicago. The 
pious Marquette remained to satisfy the yearnings of 
his compassionate heart in devoting the best energies 
of his nature to the labor of his love — ^the conversion 
and instruction of the poor Pagans. Joliet returned 
to Canada with a report of the residt, and the observa- 
tions which had been noted at the different points of 
interest during their progress. The Canadians were 
much elated with Joliet's success, and for years it was 
thought that a wa;y to the Indies was through their 
territory : there was a special service of thanksgiving 
in the Cathedral and the Te Deum chanted. But the 
government of New France had its attention occupied 
with matters of more immediate interest, and were 
without the means to follow the discovery with another 
and better appointed expedition. A private individual 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 29 

from his own resources was destined to efFect the con- 
tinuance of the exploration to the sea. 

Robert Caveher de la Salle, a native of the city of 
Rouen, a gentleman of great natiu-al abilities and of 
competent education, who had been received as a novice 
in a house of Jesuits where he remained some years ; 
but finding his vocation was other than that of the 
ministry, at his own request received his dismission, 
and with the written commendation of his superior 
entered into secular employments. He embarked for 
New France, and was there first established as a fur 
trader at La Chine. The recital of Joliet moved his 
ardent temperament to action ; he represented to the 
Count de Frontcnac the governor, all the various ad- 
vantages that nmst accrue to Canada and to France 
upon the completion of the discover}', and pressed the 
necessity of taking steps to secure the prize offered to 
them. Frontenac assented to his views, and event- 
ually sent La Salle to France, recommending him and 
his puiiDose to the court. La Salle was favorably 
received at Paris. He was made commandant and 
proprietor at Fort Cataracoui, received a grant of land, 
the king's approbation, and his patent of nobility — 
but no money. For that powerful agent of good or 
evil he had to rely upon his own talents, industry, and 
fortune for supply. He engaged the Chevalier de 
Tonti, a Neapolitan, in liis enterprise, and having pur- 



30 LIFE OE DR. LINN. 

chased a large supply of goods suitable for the Indian 
trade, which his previous experience had taught the 
value of in the new country, sailed with a company of 
thirty, among whom were the mechanics necessary for 
his pm'pose. He safely arrived, and at once proceeded 
to Cataracoui ; this fort, afterwards called Frontenac, 
was built in 1670, and was of great service in securing 
the navigation westwardly by the lakes. The city of 
Kingston is now situated upon its site. He made his 
arrangements in the most prompt and business-like 
manner, sending parties to prepare the natives for his 
coming, and to barter his goods for furs, from the sale 
of which he mainly depended to secure the means of 
defraying the expense of his expedition. Having 
built a small vessel, he left Cataracoui in the middle of 
November, 1678, and after a tedious and tempestuous 
voyage reached the western side of the lake, and de- 
termined to winter near the Palls of Niagara. Sending 
some parties of his men in various directions among 
the Indians, and employing others in the construction 
of another and larger barque above the Palls, near the 
mouth of Tonnewanda Creek, he returned to Fort 
Erontenac for further supplies, with which he again 
arrived the following spring. Having launched and 
freighted " The Griffon " the first vessel that ploughed 
the great inland seas of America, equipped with artil- 
lery, he pointed the prow of his argosy to the regions 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 31 

of his hope and expectation on the seventh of August, 
1679. SaiUng over unkno\\Ti waters, his progress was 
slow. Staying some time at Michihmacanac, he entered 
Green Bay in the early part of October, whence he 
sent the Griffon richly laden with furs upon her return 
voyage. He built a fort among the Miamies near the 
Saint Joseph's river, where he anxiously awaited the 
arrival of his vessel until December. Lea\ing there a 
small garrison, with instructions for the captain of the 
Griffon, he with the Chevalier De Tonti and thirty -three 
men departed, some in canoes upon the St. Joseph, 
and by portage to the Kankeekee, and others by land 
to the Illinois, which the whole party descended as far 
as a large Indian village near Lake Peoria, where they 
met a hospitable reception, and were freely furnished 
with supplies of provisions which they greatly needed. 
About sixty miles lower, with the consent of the 
natives, it Avas determined to build a fort and await 
intelligence from his vessel. Here his men became 
discontented and disheartened, a mutinous spirit was 
apparent, some deserted, among thciii were meclianics 
upon whom he relied for the construction of the boats 
necessary for the descent of the great river ; the Indians 
who had been friendly, became jealous of his pui-pose 
among them, and charged him with being in alliance 
with their enemies, the Iroquois ; and to fill the cup 
of calamity, news of the loss of his valued Griffon 



32 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

and cargo reached liim in January. Yet under all 
these adversities La Salle's energy and courage was 
unbroken. By his personal influence the confidence 
of the natives and the fealty of his followers were again 
secured, when he determined to return to Prontenac 
Fort for assistance and supplies. Having planned an 
expedition to go up the great river towards its soiu-ce, 
in his absence he left Fort Creve Cceur, which he so 
named because of the adversities that beset him there, 
and with but three companions threaded his perilous 
way through the trackless wilds in safety to Canada. 
Here he met with new difficidties — ^liis creditors were 
clamorous ; the means by which he had expected to 
satisfy their claims had been ingulfed with his vessel : 
but he did not despair ; his perseverance and energy 
gained him friends and assistance. 

Among those who had accompanied him to Fort 
Creve Cceur was Father Louis Hennepin, a Recollect ; to 
liim was intrusted the exploration of the upper portion 
of the river. It left the fort in a canoe near the end 
of February, 1680. Six men being the party with 
Father Hennepin, they descended the Illinois to the 
Mississippi, then full of running ice, which they as- 
cended in despite of difficidty, delay and danger, to 
the falls, which received the name of Saint Anthony, 
to whose spiritual intercession the intent, progress, and 
consummation of the expedition from its commence- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 33 

ment had been especially committed. Correctly infer- 
ring from the volume of water that it was the great 
drain of a vast extent of unknown territory, they 
intended fiu-ther discovery, but were made prisoners by 
a band of SioiLX Indians, and for a time held and 
treated by them as slaves. Escaping from their red 
masters they descended to the mouth of the Ouisconsin, 
and by the route of Father jVlarquette's coming, reached 
the mission at Green Bay. Ambitious of effecting La 
Salle's main design, he again entered the Mississippi, 
going as far down that river as the mouth of the 
Arkansas only, and not the ocean as has been asserted. 
Late in the autumn he reached the Illinois, and re- 
turned to Europe the following year. 

De Tonti, who had been left in command at Fort 
Creve Coeur, found himself in a precarious situation on 
account of the hostilities between the Illinois and tlie 
Iroquois. He was between the belligerent tribes, ;uid 
it was no part of his purpose to side with either; and 
he deemed it prudent to retire to Fort Miami, which 
he reached in September. In tlie spring of 1681 La 
Salle rejoined him there, and peace being restored, they 
again reoccupied Fort Creve Coem*. The summer of 
this year La Salle spent in visiting his different trading 
posts, and cementing the alliance with the Miauiies and 
his new friends on the Illinois. In November, to com- 
plete his arrangements he again returned to Canada, 



34 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

and thence in January to Fort Creve Cosur. On the 
2d of February, 1682, he and his companions were 
floating with the mighty current of the great Father 
of Waters, occasionally stopping for amicable inter- 
com'se with the natives. They rapidly descended, every 
day dawning upon new wonders, and every night 
witnessing their watch of apprehension, until their 
vision was greeted on the 7th of April by the billowy 
expanse of the " American Sea," proving one of the 
surmises of Allouez to be a verity : indeed, there are 
those who think the other will not always remain as a 
mere conjecture ; for men of cool heads and matured 
judgment, with a life-long acquaintance with the subject, 
and from a point of view which best enables them to 
make the declaration, are of opinion that the rich 
products of famed Cathay and furthest Ind will yet 
come westward, to be water-borne on the capacious 
bosom of the swift-rolling Mississippi. Le Page du 
Pratz says, that this name is the French contraction of 
the savage term Meacht Chassippi, which literally de- 
notes the ancient Father of Rivers. 

La Salle, with his little frail flotilla, exposed to all 
the influences of the elements, having achieved a dis- 
covery, extending on one continuous stream over more 
degrees of latitude than ^.ly yet accomplished, felt 
himself recompensed for all his previous labors, priva- 
tions and disappointments ; his great mind penetrated 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 35 

futurity, and comprehended the vast results. Ascend- 
ing the river above the marshes, he landed upon the 
first firm ground, and took formal possession with all 
the solemnity of religious and mihtary ceremony. A 
column was erected with the arms of France affijxed, and 
the inscription : 

" Louis le Grand, 

Roi de France et Navarre, Regne ; 

Le neuvicmc Avril, 1682," 

the whole party chanting the Te Beuni, the Exaudiat, 
the Bomine salvum fac Ber/em. 

La Salle in a loud voice made the proclamation of 
possession and demanded tlie act of the notary. A 
cross was erected, the Vexilla was intoned, and they 
fondly hoped they had planted the germ of Christianity 
as well as their evidence of French sovereignty in the 
soil of the vast valley. A metal plate with an inscrip- 
tion in Latin was buried at the foot of a tree. The 
proces demanded was made and signed by La IMetaire, 
the notary, and was also signed by La Salle, Father 
Zcnobe Mambre, De Tonti, and ten others of the most 
prominent of the party. After staying a short time to 
refresh his men, he proceeded homeward, imtil he 
reached the Chickasaws, among whom on his downward 
voyage he had erected a small stockade which he called 
Fort Prud'homme, from the name of the person he 



36 LIFE OF DR LINN. 

had there left in charge ; here he was taken ill, the 
result of excitement, anxiety, and fatigue he had 
encountered, and remained seven weeks with most of 
his men, sending De Tonti with the others to the 
Illinois to take charge of his various posts. In Sep- 
tember he himself reached there, and some of his 
followers, attracted by the beauty of the comitry, and 
rightly judghig they would soon be joined by more of 
their kindred when the result of their exploration 
should be known, preferred remaining ; and the date 
of the first European residents in the great valley of 
the Mississippi may be stated to commence in the year 
1682; — they settled at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. La 
Salle sent Father Zenobe to Trance with his report of 
his discovery. The first great ■ political event conse- 
quent thereto was the claim of his Most Christian 
Majesty, Louis XIV., to the territory on the east bank 
of the river to the western limits of Spanish Florida, 
the English Carolinas and Virginia to the Illinois, and 
on the west, along the shore of the gulf to the provinces 
of Mexico and their eastern boundaries ; and in com- 
pliment to him, this immense region received the name 
of Louisiana, which was subsequently divided into 
lower and upper ; the last, commonly and first called 
and better known as "Les Illinois," which name is yet 
retained by the flourishing State, whose extent is but a 
portion of the territory within its original boundary. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 37 

Illinois is an Indian term, and, like most of the ab- 
original appellations, is beautifully expressive, signifying 
a man in the flower of his age, and doubtlessly will be 
considered as appropriately applied by all who have 
witnessed the beautv of that country, the fertility of 
its soil, and the luxuriance of its vegetation. 

La Salle having visited his trading posts, left De 
Tonti commandant of Port Saint Louis and general 
superintendent of all his affairs, and returned to Canada 
for supplies. The governor of Canada, Le Ferre de 
la Barre, had misrepresented him in his despatches to 
the king, and though the Count de Frontenac, at that 
time in Paris, had used all his influence to counteract 
the impression they were intended to create, La Salle 
deemed it necessary to cross the Atlantic to confute all 
accusation and explain his plans of colonization. He 
an'ived at the close of the year 1683 at Paris, and was 
well received by the Marquis de Seignelay, the minister 
and son of Colbert, the great prime minister of the 
Grand Monarque. The energy La Salle had evinced, 
and the comprehensive views he entertained, secured 
to him and towards his schemes all suitable considera- 
tion. He was selected to put in execution the design 
of establishing a chain of forts and posts from the 
mouth of the Mississippi to Canada. Tic had proved 
that he possessed the adnunistrative qualities that fitted 
to command ; he was also courageous, confident, and 



38 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

self-reliant, cliaracteristics whicli failed not to beget 
confidence and reliance in his followers. This last 
peculiarity of his temperament is always of importance 
to a leader, but has too often been the fount of great 
disasters ; continued success frequently causes a neglect 
of the suggestions of another qualification, with which 
it should always be accompanied. The stirring events 
of history detail many examples, and the pursuits and 
avocations of common life constantly present them ; 
it was on this ruin of myriads, this rock every where 
so prominent, that the ardent and adventurous La SaUe 
was most miserably wrecked. Had he heeded the 
whispering of prudence he had avoided the error which 
led to the fatal end of the career which seemed to be 
entering the vista of a glorious future. On the 24th 
July, 1684, an expedition sailed from RocheUe consist- 
ing of fom' vessels : one, Le Joli, a thircy-six gun frigate, 
commanded by IVIonsieur de Beaujeau. There were 
twenty famihes on board, furnished by the government 
with every necessary to form a colony, artificers to erect 
fortifications, and soldiers to protect them. The evils 
of a mixed command were early apparent on the 
voyage. The naval commander was arrogant and self- 
wiUed, and was envious of the rising reputation of La 
Salle. 

In the West Indies, one of their vessels containing 
their goods for trade and mechanics' tools was taken 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 39 

by the Spaniards. They remained there some weeks, 
losing some men by fevers and recruiting others, of 
Avhom a part had been buccaneers. Leaving San 
Domingo on the 25th November for the Mississippi, 
they arrived on the 10th January to where it was 
thought tlie proper longitude had been attained, and 
it was proposed to alter their coiu-se northwardly for 
the mouth of the river. La Salle, adhering to his own 
computation, which made a different allowance for set 
of current than those of others, persisted it should be 
continued westwardly. He afterwards admitted that 
he might be wrong, and recjuested Beaujeau to return : 
he refused, and after losing another vessel in a storm, 
landed La Salle and his party at a bay called by the 
French Saint Louis, and now known as Matagorda, in 
the present State of Texas, seven degrees west of, and 
by the coast line some eight hundred miles distant 
from the IVIississippi. He said he had fulfilled his in- 
structions by landing them on the shore of the gidf, 
and sailed in the Joli, leaving La Salle to find the river 
as he could. La Salle took formal jjossession of the 
country, hence it was always considered by the French 
as part of Louisiana and included in the tcrritorv under 
Jefterson's treaty. In ;Mr. Monroe's administration the 
Sabine was assigned as the boundary ; but the people 
of the great valley were never satisfied until Texas was 
reannexed. Having built a fort for the security of the 



40 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 



colonists, he penetrated the country in various direc- 
tions, during his absence on one of which his Last re- 
maining vessel was lost, and his movements by water 
were closed. In March, 1687, being near the head waters 
of the Trinity River, he received a lamentable death 
from the hands of some of his own followers, who con- 
sidered him the sole cause of all their calamities. He 
may have been truly so ; but his horrible assassination 
may be marked as one of the numerous instances of the 
blindness of passion, for it must be admitted that he 
was the best fitted, by his previous experience, to 
rescue this party of newly arrived Europeans, lost in 
the wilds of America, from the perils of their situation. 
His murderers, quarrelling soon after, killed each other. 
Some of this last party of La Salle returned to their 
companions at the Bay of Saint Louis, others remained 
with the Indians and assisted them in their war against 
the Spaniards. Seven determined to go to the Illinois, 
among whom were the brother and nephew of La SaUe, 
Father Anastatius, and Monsieur Joutel, who, upon his 
arrival in France, published a narrative of their last 
voyage and wanderings through the ilds of Texas. 
They, with the loss of one of their ni ^er, arrived at 
Fort Saint Louis in Septer Ser. For p .ential reasons 
the fate of La Salle was k( t secret foi "me, both in 
Canada and France. The mthofthe jr was found 
by Iberville in 1699. Sk dy after th .liscovery of 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 41 

the Mississippi became kno^Mi in Canada, La Salle's 
followers, who continued at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, 
were joined by parties of their friends from thence and 
from France ; every year added to their number : their 
trail through the wilderness was distinct ; along which 
the adventurous voyageurs first established their trading 
posts, and the Canadian government soon sent soldiers 
for their security: various forts were erected at the 
most conunanding points, and hamlets and villages 
indicated the current of civilization. 

The last fort on the line from Canada to tlie iMissis- 
sippi was Fort Chartres ; placed about a mile from the 
river, and built with all the attention requisite to the 
constniction of a regidarly fortified place of importance, 
and furnished with every convenience for the officers 
and garrison as well as magazines for munitions and 
stores ; there was also within it swalls an entrance to a 
subterranean comnnmication with the river. The 
French have always been remarkable for the care they 
bestowed in tlu; construction of the fortifications in 
their colonies; the cost of tliis, which was built in 
1720, has been ited to have been equal to eleven 
millions of frai' ; that at Louisbom-g (considered 
the Dunkirk d America), v' :ich was taken by the 
Provincials iv Colonel T pperell and the English 
squadron undi .onunodor^ V'arren in the year 1745, 
employed th(*; rench trooji twenty-five years in its 



42 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

construction, and involved an outlay of thii-ty millions 
of livres. 

The protection afforded by the erection of Fort 
Chartres was a great attracting cause of the several 
little towns and villages in its vicinity. St. Genevieve 
was one of the first on the west bank of the Mississippi 
that availed itself of the advantages it secured. The 
early settlers there could always be certain of the means 
of regular communication with their European friends, 
receive clerical ministration, and obtam medical assist- 
ance and such need fid stores as their situation required. 

Considering the spare accommodation, the great 
inconvenience and danger attending a sea voyage at 
that period, and the no less deterring difficulties then 
consequent to the long land travel; it is surprising 
such thriving industrious communities of civilized 
Europeans should at that early day be placed on this 
distant and secluded frontier. The emigration here 
was of a very superior character ; mostly agriculturists 
from the vicinage of the city of Paris. They had 
heard of the surpassing fertility of the soil, and were 
aware of the facilities with which it could be obtained 
under an easy soccage tenure, and did not remain in 
Canada like their brethren from the maritime parts of 
western Erance, whose trading and commercial instincts 
and propensities stayed them on the borders of the St. 
Lawrence in facile communication with the ocean. 



LIFE OP DR. LINN. 43 

Early in the eighteenth century emigi-ation received a 
great impulse from the stimulating excitement produced 
by one of those epidemics of enthusiastic delusion, 
which occasionally occur in the progress of time, some- 
thing of which has been witnessed in our day. The 
"Mississippi scheme," one of the several gigantic plans 
of the confident visionary Law, which were to have 
enabled France and the French people to become the 
recipients of the wealth of the world, certainly was 
advantageous to the lUinois, however different it may 
have been to the great majority of the duped victims 
who held shares when the great bubble collapsed. 
Were it possible that any company could now obtain 
and exercise the privileges and monopolies Law 
possessed, it might be said of him as has been said of 
other projectors, that he only hved a century too soon. 
The settlers on the Illinois never had occasion to draw 
from distant points the articles of first necessity. 
These, from the first, their industry obtained from the 
teemmg soil on which they had transplanted tliemselves, 
not only enough for themselves, but sufficient and to 
spare for all new comers. Not long after the estabhsh- 
ment of New Orleans, dunng the war of 1744, these 
settlements, responsive to a demand from thence, in a 
short time funiished four or five thousand barrels of 
corn, flour, and other provision. Kaskaskia, the pi- 
oneer of the Illinois villages, for a long time maintained 



44 LIFE OP DR. LINN. 

its supremacy; in 1721 there were 100 houses and a 
convent ; and in its vicinage reductions of red men, 
the neophytes and catechumens of their beloved " long 
robes." It was afterwards of greater importance, but 
dechned from various controlling causes, and it may 
be considered to have been almost totally destroyed by 
the great flood of 1844. 

In 1762 D'Abadie the Governor-general of Louis- 
iana granted to Pierre Ligueste Lacede and his associ- 
ates, under the name of the " Louisiana Fur Company," 
the privilege of trading with the Indians on the Mis- 
souri and west of the Mississippi : the succeeding year 
he ascended the river to the Illinois with several com- 
panions, among the youngest of whom were the brothers 
Pierre and Auguste Chouteau, whose names have been 
identified with the growth and prosperity, not only of 
the great city Lacede founded, but of the noble and 
then unknown territory over the western plains. Every 
point considered as eligible was personally visited and 
carefully examined mth a view to select one as most 
suitable for his purpose for a depot, not omitting St. 
Genevieve, which for many years had been of impor- 
tance as the centring position of the fur, peltry, and 
lead trade of the region : he preferred an entirely new 
and unoccupied place, of which he took formal posses- 
sion, as his intended principal trading post, on the 
fifteenth day of February, 1764; and that which is 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 45 

now the great inland mart of the great valley, on that 
day received from Lacede the name of the courageous 
soldier, wise king, and humble Christian, Samt Louis. 
At this period there occurred a political event of the 
first importance to " the Illinois :" The Treaty of Paris, 
under wliich Great Britain received from the French 
all their territory east of the Mississippi, with the ex- 
ception of New Orleans; Avhich city, with all their 
domain west of that river was ceded to Spain. Those 
of the inhabitants who were by the treaty under the 
jurisdiction of the English government, evinced great 
repugnance to dwell under the drapeau of the arrogant 
islanders; they crossed the river in great numbers, 
joining their relatives on the western bank, filling and 
extending their towns and villages, and forming new 
communities. The present villages of Carondelet and 
Florisant are of those thus founded. Thov did more ; 
with their western brethren they set up a go\ eminent 
of their own, the spontaneous act of all, and St. Ange 
De Bcllerive was the first governor in America ele\ated 
by the living voice of the people, under no connnission 
or charter from any foreign king or government, and 
without aid or hindrance from any previously contrived 
machinery. He had been the commandaiit of the 
French at Fort Chartres ; he crossed the river in 17Go ; 
whereupon he was invested with civil and military 
command over the " Upper Louisiana," and this power 



46 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

he most beneficently exercised and held with a firm 
and able hand, though legally he had no right to its 
sway, save the acclaim of the people. He Avas " every 
inch a governor," and no act of his, will ever militate 
against the advocates of popular sovereignty. His 
name is in benediction ; his very name, — if one who has 
scarce a pretension to the most imperfect knowledge of 
the elegant language in which it is written can be 
permitted to say, — •" Saint Ange De Bellerive," may 
be rendered as having been, the Blessed Angel of the 
beautifid water-side. He, supported by the unanimous 
voice of his constituents, did and performed every act 
and deed deemed necessary or proper for the common 
weal of all, without fear, favor, or affection. His 
numerous grants of land, to their honor be it spoken, 
were afterwards confirmed by the Spaniards, and again 
reconfirmed by the United States commissioners, not- 
withstanding the efforts of the speculating land-sharks 
who sought to oppugn their validity. In 1 768 a body 
of Spanish troops under Rious arrived at St. Louis with 
the claim of possession for his Cathohc Majesty; it 
was peacefully admitted, but the authority of St. Ange 
continued with undiminished force until 1770. Mr. 
Chambers of the Missouri Republican, in his valuable 
Annual Review (1854), adverting hereto, says : " This 
anomaly may be explained by the condition of political 
affairs in New Orleans, it not being till 1769, after 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 47 

serious collisions, that under O'Reilly, tlie representative 
of the King of Spain, ther transfer so unpalatable to 
the French was finally acquiesced in at the capital of 
the country." Pedro Piernas was the first lawful 
governor of Upper Louisiana ; he took possession 
towards the end of 1770 ; the Spanish ride continued 
through Cruzat, De Leyba, Perex, Trudeau, and ended 
with Delassus in 1804. By the treaty of San Ildefonso 
in 1800, France again became possessed of the vast 
territory of Louisiana ; and the sagacious Jefferson, by 
the treaty of 30th of April, 1803, added this empire to 
the domain of oiu* Republic, at the insignificant cost 
of fifteen millions of dollars. Scarcely any act of our 
government has been fraught with greater beneficial 
results, both immediate and prospective ; or met (in 
some sections of our country then influential) a more 
malign reception ; the bitterest denunciators, the most 
active stirrers of strife were they, who claimed to be 
followers of the Prince of Peace, the political parsons 
then, as from the beginning, and now, the pests of the 
society that support them ; they hesitated not to an- 
nounce and denounce from their " sacred desks " the 
chief executive of their country as a perjm-ed tributary 
of Antichrist — the man of sin — conveniently transfemng 
for the time, their habitual appellation of the Pope, to 
the ruler of the French, and knowing, and caring not 
to know, that the spiritual supremacy of the Bishop of 



48 LIFE OF DR. LINN. ' 

Rome being not of the kingdoms of this world, was as 
effective in the depths of a French dungeon, as from 
the hills of his eternal city. Under Jefferson's treaty 
and a consequent act of Congress, Captain Amos 
Stoddard, on the 10th March 1804, as agent for the 
United States, received from Don Carlos Dehaidt 
Delassus, the Spanish Lieutenant-governor, the posses- 
sion of Upper Louisiana, the keys of the government 
house, the public archives and property : the flag of 
Spain descended, and the ensign of oiu* Union, amid 
salvos of artillerv, waved free in the breeze over the 
western bank of the great river. At this period the 
inhabitants of the territory were nearly all of French 
lineage (there being then but two Anglo-American 
families in St. Louis) ; they, having again been, without 
any voice of their own, transferred as subjects to 
another system of government, were not without the 
natm-al feeling of apprehension which such a change 
must ever produce; but the conduct of the United 
States agents, and the character of the fast-coming new 
emigrants soon dissipated then- anxiety. The first 
families arriving among them from the States were not 
the Bostonians of their tradition, being from Virginia, 
Maryland and Kentucky ; whose social, frank and open 
manners most nearly resembled then* own, so different 
from the arrogant English of the Canadas, and others 
with whom some among them had the unpleasant ex- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 49 

perieiice of previous intercourse : they rendered a cheer- 
ful fealty to that government whose mstitutions, in 
accordance to the legend of its national emblazonment, 
are so happily constituted to absorb and blend into one 
homogeneous people the varieties of different nations. 
Shoidd any one be chsposed to doubt this, let them, or 
any one of them, point to their exemplar of a com- 
munity of more law-observing and law-abiding citizens 
than can be found among the old French villages within 
the bounds of the State of Missouri. 

All Louisiana north of the thirty-third parallel Avas 
designated by Congress in 1804 as the District of 
Louisiana, and the executive power of the Territory 
of Indiana was extended over the new District, and 
accordingly was first exercised by Gen. William Ileniy 
Harrison, then governor. The following year the Dis- 
trict was changed to the Territory of Louisiana. James 
Wilkinson became its governor, and with Return J. 
Meigs and J. B. C. Lucas, the judges of the Superior 
Court, were the Legislature of the Territory ; this 
system, with occasional change of person, remained for 
some time. Li 1812 it took the name of the Missouri 
Territory ; there was a Governor and a Legislative 
Assembly, the upper branch consisting of nine coun- 
cillors, selected Ijy the governor from double that 
number, nominated to him by the lower brancli, and 
Avas represented in Congress by a delegate. The first 



50 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

governor of the Missouri Territory was Merriwetlier 
Lewis, and Edward Hempstead tlie delegate. 

By the act of the 6th March, 1820, the terms of 
which being accepted by the representatives of the 
people in convention held at St. Louis on the l9th 
of the following Jidy, Missouri Avas admitted as one of 
the sovereign States of this Union. The first Legisla- 
ture met at St. Louis in 1820 ; the seat of government 
was transferred to St. Charles, and remained there 
until its removal to the City of Jefferson, in 1826. 
Alexander McNair was the first governor of the ^tate 
of Missouri. 

Erom the first settlement of the French in " Les 
Illinois," to the period when their descendants became 
citizens of the different Republican States among which 
their great territory has been divided, there were but 
few incidents arising immediately among them of 
special notice. They pursued the even tenor of their 
peaceful way ; instructed their children in the precepts 
of their rehgion, and by their example of the practice 
of them secured the continuance of their living faith ; 
they mostly cultivated the ground of their common 
fields contiguous to then- villages ; their traders traf- 
ficked with the Indians, and procured for them from 
Canada and New Orleans the textile fabrics and such 
other articles of European manufacture as they desired : 
they had not much money among them, they needed 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 51 

but Kttle; almost all the transactions of a business 
character were eiFected through the medium of " peltry- 
bons," and the bills payable in this pecunia, so nearly 
allied to the primitive origin of the word, were every 
where current, and were far better and more substan- 
tially based, than the greater portion of the pretty 
promises to pay, now so prevalent -with all their incon- 
gruous superadveniences of mythological device, medal- 
lion heroes and statesmen, beautifid belles and ugly 
usurers. It has always been noted as worthy of 
remark, that the Indians better preserved the terms of 
amity with the French, than with any other European 
nation. With them they seldom had trouble ; Avhen 
it did arise, it was usually traceable to English incite- 
ment. Thus, the death of the famous Pontiac in 
1709 ; who, Ijeing on a visit to St. Ange at St. Louis, 
accepted an invitation to an Indian feast near Cahokia, 
during which he was killed by a Kaskaskia Indian, 
instigated by a British trader. His body was taken to 
his French friends in St. Louis, and there by them 
honorably buried. The French were unsuccessful in 
their endeavor to avert the consequences of this murder 
from their neighbors ; for the Ottawas, in revenge for 
the loss of their chief, nearly exterminated the Illinois 
nation. Again, in 1779, during our war of Independ- 
ence, when France was our valued ally, runners 
brought intelligence that the British meditated an 



52 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

assault upon St. Louis. Heed was given to the infor- 
mation, and sucli additions made to tlieir defence as 
was in their power. In May of the following year, 
fourteen hundred well armed savages and one hundred 
and forty British regulars arrived on the opposite side 
of the river, and lay in ambush unknown to the St. 
Louians ; on the 26tli of that month they crossed, and 
killing some fifteen or twenty whom they found in the 
common field outside of the stockade, they advanced 
upon the village ; but though taken by surprise, the 
Erench rushed to their barriers and met the foe with 
such a manful and determined resistance, that all his 
efforts to carry them were ineffective ; and after ex- 
periencing great loss, the allied savages retreated towards 
Lake Michigan, as stealthily as they came. This first 
attempt to pass a ligatm^e around the great artery of 
the West was as unsuccessful as the later trial at New 
Orleans. Mr. Chambers states, " The particulars of 
this defence reflect very great credit on the villagers. 
They numbered only about one hundred and fifty males 
fit for service. At the commencement of the attack, 
the Spanish troops, whose proper business it was to 
lead in the defence, ran off and secreted themselves in 
a garret. Leyba, the Lieutenant-governor, acted in a 
manner to show that he had been in traitorous com- 
munication with the enemy." 

While the undaunted \dllagers were poming grape 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 53 

from the cannon's mouth on the host of assailants, 
Leyba made his appearance 'tnmcllcd on a Avheel- 
barrow,' and ordered the guns to be spiked. Before 
this, he had discouraged all rumors of the approaching 
invasion, imprisoning those Avho set them afloat, and 
had sold all the powder in the place, on which he could 
lay his hands. An account of his procedure was 
transmitted to Galvez, then Governor of Louisiana, 
who immediately superseded him. After all fair de- 
ductions, enoudi remains to show that Levba was 
unworthy of the trust confided to him, and that the 
defenders of St. Louis desei-ve to be held in honorable 
remembrance for their bravery." It was an epoch 
whence other occurrmg matters hi these peaceful com- 
munities were dated, as afterwards this year 1780 was 
generally spoken of as " V amice cite grand coiqj." 
There were some other periods during the continuance 
of the Spanisli rule considered sufficiently out of tlie 
course of orcUnary events as to obtain a general de- 
finitive ; as n^o,"L\innee des grandes eaux" from 
an unprecedented rise of tlie river, and since only 
erpialled by the devastating floods of 1844 and '52. 
17 SS, " Z'aii?iee de.s- div bateaux," iYon\t\\Q arrival at 
one time of a fleet of ten barges, who had associated 
for mutual protection against the river-pirates on their 
voyage from New Orleans. 1798, the arrival of galleys 
with Spanish troops as 'Tannee des yaleres" 1799, 



54 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

the thermometer iiidicatmg 32° below zero, was 
"L'a?inee ch grand Jiiver" 1801, the remembered 
scom'ge of the small-pox, " L'annee dela Picotte." 

St. Louis, though among the younger, has far out- 
stripped and outgrown her sister villages in the matters 
of more material progress, but not in the sense of 
Pharaoh's di'eam as interpreted by the young Hebrew 
captive (no, not captive — ^Josepli was the captive of his 
brethren, but was the bargained, and sold, and money- 
purchased bondman of the Midianite merchant ; and 
of Potiphar, the chamberlain of Pharaoh) ; some of them 
are yet flomishing " on the very bank of the river in 
green places." Of these St. Genevieve is not the least 
attractive ; originally built upon the site of one long 
occupied by the Peoria Indians, and possessing all the 
advantages usually sought for in those days of primitive 
habits and moderate desires. The first buildings were 
erected close to the water-side, but in the memorable 
L'annee des grandes eaux were swept away by the great 
Pather of Waters, leaving the vestiges of that destruc- 
tive inundation visible as late as 1832. Warned by 
this bitter experience, the inhabitants rebuilt their 
dwellings and business houses on a more elevated and 
pleasant situation : above their new town are several 
springs of extraordinary volume of water, the favored 
encamping ground of their long lingering red friends. 
The Prench and Spanish emigrants, the earliest pioneers 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 55 

in the exploration and settlement of our western wil- 
derness, congregated in villages for greater secimty, 
and in accordance with their social instincts, as far as 
they coidd, they made their American homes to re- 
semble those they had left in their father-lands. Unlike 
the Anglo-American, who, armed with axe and rifle, 
plunges into the primeval forest fearless and alone, 
building himself a little cabin and clearing a patch f<^- 
the cultivation of the indispensable " soothing weed," 
is content to lead the life of a solitaire, until the tide 
of civilization invades his seclusion, and settles the 
Avaste places around him, — the natives of southern 
Europe, no less brave and adventurous, adhere to their 
innate and irradicable love of companionship, and with 
a facility of adaptation to new modes of life peculiar to 
themselves, cidtivate every where the tastes, the habits, 
and social quahtics, that distinguish them from all other 
people. It is owing to these characteristics, that the 
French especially have exhibited such a remarkable 
aptitude in contentedly and peacefully dwelling near 
and among our aboriginal tribes, and securing their 
faithful attachment, confidence, and affectionate esteem. 
They resided in villages and cidtivated the earth, and 
pastm-ed their cattle in common enclosures, the connnon 
property of all. These fields were divided into separate 
allotments, in which each projirietor planted and tended 
such products as he preferred ; but if there was any 



56 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

difference of OAviiersliip or taste in the growth and 
culture of contiguous phxnts, when the harvest was 
gathered, it was freely offered to the enjoyment of all. 
Thus they peacefully and happily lived until some time 
after the appearance of the wonder which has contri- 
buted so much to the improvement of the West. 

In 1817 the General Pike, a Louisville low-pressure 
steamboat, first startled the quiet waters of the Upper 
Mississippi, reaching St. Louis on the second day of 
August in that year, under the command of Captain 
Jacob Reed. Two years afterwards, the Independence, 
Captain Nelson, ascended the Missouri, demonstrating 
that even tlie cm'rent of that more turbulent stream 
could be overcome by the new giant motor. This 
many of the old voyageurs and others had doubted, 
but they now saw that the days of the slow-progressing 
keel-boat and barge were about to pass, and with them 
the occupation of their previous life. Nothing has con- 
tributed so much to effect the sm-prising change notice- 
able within the last thirty years, as the introduction of 
the bateau-a-vapeur, not only over the face of the 
country, but in the manners, pursuits and occupations 
of the whole western people. For a time, the villagers, 
wedded to their old customs, were content with the 
slow and toilsome progress of their keel-boat and barge. 
To the successful prosecution of voyages in such craft, 
the services of the patient, abstemious, and light-hearted 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 57 

voyageurs were, until their business was broken up by 
the general use of steam, deemed absolutely indispen- 
sable. They were so thoroughly acquainted with the 
great rivers of the West, knowing every highland and 
jutting promontory, every rock, sunken tree, and shift- 
ing sand-bar, and every cleft and cavern on their 
shores. No danger appalled or difficuUy disheartened 
them. Always cheerful and alert, they lightened their 
labor at the oar, and enlivened the long dreary nights 
by song and dance, and traditional tales of love, or war 
or daring adventure, giving a romantic or historical 
interest to the wild and comparatively tcnantless scenes 
along which they passed. But the keel-boat, the barge, 
and the lithe, athletic and joyous voyageurs, may be 
said to have disappeared, and with them the limited 
desires ;md few and simple wants, which for a long 
series of years they so abundantly supplied. 

In 1817 St. Genevieve contained a goodly number 
of American families, and a much greater proportion 
of French ; many of whom were descended from the 
best blood of France, and retained, in a remarkable 
degree, the refinement, the courtesy, and the ardent 
temperament Avhich so pre-eminently distinguished 
their countrymen of the last century. To their heredi- 
tary gayety and inborn politeness, their close and fre- 
quent intercourse of late years with their American 
neighbors, have imparted not a little of the solidity and 



58 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

progressive energy which characterize the latter. Their 
manners and conversation, always sprightly and agree- 
able, rendered their society at home or aljroad, nniver- 
sally and at all seasons, most attractive and acceptable. 
Those parents who possessed the time and means, gave 
to their children the best education the circumstances 
of place and period permitted ; all, however, received 
moral and religious instruction from the faithful pastor 
of the church, and acquired, from the constant associa- 
tion of every class, an amenity of deportment more 
captivating than any learning without it, — a deference 
for the feelings and wishes of others, which never failed 
to secure it for themselves. No matter how poor or 
how ignorant they at first to some appeared to be, they 
were rich and instructed, possessing a grace so winning, 
an address so fascinating, a bearing so manly, that it 
levelled all distinctions of birth and education, and not 
to admire and respect them was an impossibility. 
The men of this interesting society were proverbial for 
their probity, for their gentleness and devotion as 
husbands, fathers and friends, while the women were no 
less remarkable for their warm and ingenuous affections, 
their piu-ity and scrupulous neatness, their untiring at- 
tention to their household duties, and for all the little 
nameless offices of kindness, whose ministrations enter 
so largely into the sum of domestic felicity. Their 
many attractive little fetes and observances cannot fail 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 59 

to make a favorable impression on a stranger. One, a 
custom common to all classes, so touching and beau- 
tiful, so instinct Anth gracious sentiment and genuine 
refinement, that the portraitm'e of excellent friends 
would be wanting in its crowning grace, and perhaps 
most characteristic trait, if it were omitted. The oldest 
male member of each family is looked up to by all who 
compose it, as its patriarch and head; and on the 
morning of every new year all its branches, young and 
old, gather arourul him, and each one kneeling in turn 
begs his blessing for the coming year. The \enerable 
sire first extends his arms over them and says, in an 
afiectingly solemn and affectionate voice, " My children, 
is there peace between you all ? " If answered affirm- 
atively, as it always is, he, placing his hand on the head 
of each, gives the much-valued blessing ; this exquisite 
usage has the happiest effect in preventing and healing, 
family feuds; for, if difficulties occiu", all are interested 
in their disappearance, they must be reconciled before 
the year expires, else the ening parties would be de- 
prived of the annual benediction so piousl) and so 
hopefully looked forward to by all, and the withholding 
of which is considered not merely a stigma, but one of 
the heaviest calamities that coidd befall them. Can 
the vapid morning receptions, or the ghttering soirees 
of our eastern cities welcome the incoming of the new 
year with a more attractive beauty, or confer more en- 



60 LIFE 0¥ DR. LINN. 

during benefits ? The people of this Httle community 
paid a more than Spartan reverence to old age, and 
it differed not whether it was arrayed in rags, or clothed 
in the costliest apparel. The silvery sheen of gray 
hairs seemed in their eyes as a halo of glory, and to 
claim for the form of feebleness and decrepitude they 
covered a sort of devotional respect, originating, not in 
the mere sympathy and compassion which helplessness 
seldom fails to awaken, but from a feeling, that, having 
reached the last resting-places of this imperfect exist- 
ence and being pmified from its stains, they were 
almost within the portals of the true and perfect life to 
come, and already appeared imbued with a portion of 
its unearthly and inconceivable purity and splendor. 
The mutual kind love and esteem subsisting between 
the master or mistress and their sei-vants, are only sur- 
passed by the relation of parents and children. The 
tender and faithful remembrance of those who have 
passed before them with the sign of faith to their 
peaceful rest, is a beautifid instance of the endming 
affection, always observable among them. 

Such were the people among whom Dr. Linn's lot 
in life was cast, and mth whom himself and family long 
lived so happily, and who are left the beloved guardians 
of his mortal remains. At St. Genevieve is a convent 
founded in 1832, by a wealthy lady, a descendant of 
the last Em'opean governor of Upper Louisiana. At- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 61 

tached thereto, is an academy of great excellence, in 
charge of the Sisters, for the education of young ladies 
in the different branches of useful knowledge, and aU 
the accomplishments usually deemed necessaiy to a 
female in poUte society. The present ^Mother Superior 
is a jewel from the Emerald Isle of Unusual intellect 
and administrative capacity, of great and varied attain- 
ments, and behig specially educated herself for com- 
municating knowledge to others, has with these advan- 
tages the natm-al tact so useful to a teacher ; a com- 
manding personal appearance and deportment, and the 
most attractive manners. Parents and pupils all speak 
the praise of these sisters. This is written by one who 
is a Methodist, and sm^ely may be considered impartial, 
who had children to educate, and was as an anxious 
mother desirous to select the best school where the 
moral instruction, health and deportment of the pupils 
would receive the requisite attention, as well as learning 
and accomplishments. She knew of several, and could 
have had choice of any in the land ; this she deemed 
the best, and altliough warned by some of her friends 
that the rehgion of her daughter would be interfered 
with, has had no reason to regret her choice, but on tlie 
contrary, is gratefully thankful. Her daughter received 
an excellent education, at the St. Genevieve convent, 
and soon after leaving that institution, became a 
member of the Methodist Church. 



CHAPTER II. 

On the first day of July, 1818, Dr. Linn was married 
to the only daughter of Mr. John Relfe, of Virginia, 
whose early death (at the age of 29) cut short a hfe 
which his attainments and acknowledged abilities 
promised to adorn and render useful to his country. 
His son, Dr. James Relfe, of Washington County, Mis- 
som-i, was several years a representative in Congress 
from that State. 

Providence, in depriving Mrs. Linn and her brother 
of a father in their early life, yet left them the in- 
estimable blessing of a devoted and most intelligent 
mother, who was descended from an ancient family in 
Scotland, and had received from nature a character of 
singidar firmness. Her personal beauty and highly 
cultivated mind led to ehgible offers of a second mar- 
riage, which, though only twenty-seven years of age, 
she declined, and made the care and education of her 
children the sole object of her existence. Educated 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 63 

herself in the most intelligent circles of the day, and 
eminently pious, her capacity as a guide and instructress 
was equal to her anxiety as a mother. Many of her 
declining days were passed at the house of her son-in- 
law, in whose charitable ministrations to the sick and 
distressed she deeply sympathized. He constantly said 
that her religion and pure benevolence brought blessings 
upon the household and those aromid it. 

Innncdiatcly after he established himself in St. 
Genevieve, Dr. Linn commenced the })ractice of his 
profession with the most unwearied devotion, and de- 
rived the greatest pleasure in mtnessing the relief his 
rare medical skill gave to poor suffering humanity. 
He was no respcctor of persons in his practice ; the 
poor and lowly received his uuAvcaried attention with 
the same zeal that it was extended to the wealthy and 
aristocratic. The destitute widow and orphan, and all 
other indigent persons obtained his medicine and per- 
sonal attention, knowing that they would never be re- 
quired to pay for them. Dr. Linn had a large press 
in his house which was called " the closet for the poor," 
and which contained every thing necessary to add to the 
comfort of the sick who were unable to provide for 
themselves. One day, a wine merchant who lived near 
the doctor, said to Mrs. Linn, " Do your family use all 
the wine your husband sends for during the sickly 
season ? I should think you would have enough to 



64 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

bathe in, but I believe every drop of it goes to the sick 
who are not able to procure it for themselves." The 
doctor had a very extensive practice in three counties, 
and was frequently called to St. Louis to visit the sick. 
He loved his profession and attached great responsibihty 
to it. Night and day he would watch over his patients 
with intense solicitude, as long as his physical powers 
would permit, and not unfrequently did he need assist- 
ance on returning home, when exhausted from watching 
over and administering to the wants of the sick and 
dying. 

When it became evident that the Asiatic cholera 
had taken its direction towards this side of the Atlantic, 
and while as yet aU attention was absorbed in the 
fatality of its ravages in Europe, Dr. Linn opened a 
correspondence with medical men abroad, who were 
familiar with the symptoms it presented, the treatment 
and remedies most successfully used, and the theories 
held in relation to it. He received from various som'ces 
a mass of information in advance of its appearance 
here, and was thus prepared to use and disseminate 
such information, and to grapple with the terrible foe 
upon its advent and desolating march over our con- 
tinent. 

When the scourge at length reached the Atlantic 
cities, and it was impossible to doubt its malign presence 
in New York, Dr. Linn immediately published in the 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 65 

form of a circular, a history of the disease and its 
pecuhar effects upon the human system, and he warned 
the people of ^lissouri and Ilhnois tliat it would ere 
long sweep like a desolating blast o\-cr tlieii- homes. 
He enjoined them to he prepared to resist its visit by 
obsei-ving the premonitory symptoms which he indicated 
as its attendants, and assured them that its inroads 
could be arrested and life saved. 

The recipe he had received from foreign foculties 
was composed of ingredients so simple and accessible, 
that tlic poorest as well as those in the most secluded 
corners of the States could obtain and keep them readv 
for use. Ho also urged thon to dispel their fears as 
far as practicable, as fear was a great predisposing cause 
of the cholera, by rapidly enervating the physical power. 
Owing to these investigations and timely counsels, 
the strides of the pestilence were arrested on both sides 
of the ^lississippi River, its fatal com-se controlled by 
the distant hand of medical science and the benevolent 
discernment of one of its votaries. The foresight which 
providetl against its advent Ijcfore it had left the shores 
of another hemisphere, elevates the skilful physician 
from the position of incUvidual merit to the rank of 
phihmthropist, whose unsellish toils ask to be repaid 
only by the benefit bestowed upon the human family. 
To the latest period of Dr. Linn's life he derived the 
most lively satisfaction from dwelling on the vast num- 



,/ 



66 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

ber of letters from different parts of Missouri and 
Illinois, which were addressed to him by persons pouring 
forth the deepest feelings of gratitude for the medical 
advice imparted to them through his timely warning. 
They did not hesitate to say that they believed the 
diffusion of this information was the cause of saving 
of the lives of hundreds of persons ; for previous to 
its reception they were all paralyzed w^ith horror at the 
approach of the disease ; but when they saw those cir- 
culars from one who had attained so high a reputation 
as Dr. Linn, they became inspired with hope and 
courage. 

It was a cold and very disagreeable morning in 
October, 1832, when a gentleman, a citizen of St. 
Genevieve, came riding rapidly to the door of Dr. Linn's 
house, and calling to him, said that a steamboat had left 
an unfortunate stranger very ill on the bank of the 
river, a little distance from town : that he appeared from 
his violent struggles to have the cramp, and that his 
cries for assistance were truly distressing. No person 
would approach him, for by doing so they thought it 
would seal their own doom, not doubting that he was 
a victhn of the cholera. " Now, good Dr. Linn," the 
gentleman continued, " if you decline doing any thing 
for the stranger, no other person will venture to aid him, 
and it is dreadful to think of his dying on the cold, wet 
earth, deprived of assistance, and so many persons near 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 67 

him!" Without an instant's hesitation, the Doctor 
rephed that he would take charge of the invahd ; and 
looking vrith great afFcction on his wife and childi-en, he 
said, " My dear wife, the time is at hand wlien it be- 
comes necessary for you to take our children, and 
^vithout delay hasten to the country^ to avoid this 
strange and awful scoiu-ge which is about to visit us ; 
my duty is to remain here and do all I can for the 
sick." i\Irs. Linn, looking with affection on her noble 
and self-sacrificing husband, replied — " The time has 
indeed arrived when I too must do my duty, and that 
is to stay with my blessed husband and relieve him as 
far as it is in my po^^'^r, in watcliing over and mu'sing 
the sick. Dr. Linn fondly embraced his wife, saying, 
" Such a determination is worthy of you, my beloved 
wik, and I slioidd have expected it from you ; now let 
us hasten to do something for the suffering strano-er 
whom Providence has intrusted to our keeping." Li 
vain, howe\er, were all their efforts to get any person 
or any sort of conveyance to bring the sick man to 
their house. Such was the dreadful panic which had 
seized the inhabitants of the place (believing the cholera 
was as infectious as ever the plague liad been), they 
could not think of Dr. Linn going near the diseased 
person, or that he should be brought to town. The 
Doctor finding all his servants had fled from home on 
hearing his intention, requested one of his students. 



68 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

Mr. Wilkerson, to assist Mm, as lie thouglit they to- 
gether might be able to convey the patient in a blanket 
from the river to his house. While they went on this 
mission of mercy, ]\Irs. Linn commenced to prepare, in 
great haste, a room for her expected guest ; but was 
interrupted by a number of persons collected around 
the house, who clamorously assured her that her husband 
would not be permitted to bring a person in their midst 
with tlie cholera, for contagion and death followed in 
its wake. Serious apprehensions entered her mind that 
they might molest the Doctor and his kind-hearted 
student; for she saw in the wild excitement of the 
panic-stricken people that they were not responsible for 
their acts. lier fears were increased when she saw 
one of her most intimate acquaintances with a torch in 
his hand, and heard him exclaim, " Mrs. Linn, let me 
see the Doctor tmn the corner of that street, and I will 
apply this torch to his office* and bmii it to its founda- 
tion." Another still more energetically called out, 
" Let us tear down the house and save our community 
from the pestilence." It was in vain she attempted to 
be heard, they were beyond the bounds of reason ; 
their ears open to but one word, cholera; and that 
word closed all the avenues to charity, humanity and 
hospitality. While thus contesting the point, a little 

* Eooms were prepared in Dr. Linn's ofBce for the reception of those sick 
with the cholera. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 69 

colored messenger whom she had sent to inform her 
husband of the threats that had heen made, retm-ned 
m haste to inform his mistress that Dr. Linn and Mr. 
Wilkerson were approaching, bearing the sick to the 
honse. This struck the crowd with panic, and as if by 
magic it broke and chspersed, scattermg in every di- 
rection, terror giving speed to its retreat. When the 
Doctor arrived, not one remained to prevent his entrance 
to the house. 

Life was not extinct in the unfortunate man, and 
lie was soon made as comfortable as the case permitted ; 
liis first words to Mrs. Linn, wiio was standing near his 
couch, were uttered in a voice of agony -. " Madam, if 
you wish God to bless you in your dying hour, pray give 
me something warm to drink." J\lr. Hamlin (the name 
of the stranger) received all the attention that coidd be 
bestowed upon him, until death terminated his sufferings. 

Three other victhns of the cholera, left ))y steamers 
on the bank of the river, were taken in charge and 
nursed. During this time we all enjoyed perfect health. 
This circumstance, with the constant assurance of their 
kind physician, that the cholera was not infectious, 
dispelled the fears of the citizens of St. Genevieve, and 
they again became unwearied in kindness and attention 
to the sick and afflicted, hospitable and humane. 



CHAPTER III 

Dr. Linn was frequently urged by his friends to suffer 
his name to be used as a candidate for Congress, His 
popularity rendered his election certain. He declined, 
however, such friendly proposals, replying to them truly 
that he had no political aspirations. Soon after the 
lamented decease of the Hon. S. Pettis, a committee 
of gentlemen from St. Louis waited upon Dr. Linn, to 
request him to become a candidate for Congress as the 
successor of this gentleman. He again stated his un- 
willingness to enter into public life, and respectfully de- 
clined their friendly overtures. Once, and once only, 
he was prevailed upon to serve one session in the State 
Senate of Missoiu-i, for the pm-pose of prociu-ing the pas- 
sage of a law beneficial to the southern part of the State. 
In 1833, his reputation as a physician had become 
so extensive, and the demands on his time so constant, 
that his health became impaired from the fatigue he 
underwent. His friends and family became so much 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 71 

alarmed on his account, that they induced him to accept 
an appointment tendered to him by General Jackson, 
to act as one of tliree commissioners appointed to settle 
the old French land claims in Missouri. The change 
of occupation and relaxation from professional duties, 
it was trusted, woidd restore his health ; and he con- 
sented- to become a member of the Board. 

The satisfaction he gave to all parties interested in 
these lands, by the mode in A\hich his duties were dis- 
charged, added to the confidence of the public in his 
character, and enal)le(l him, when in the Senate of the 
United States, to demonstrate the justice of the adjudi- 
cation, and to procure from Congress an equitable law 
for the final adjustment of them all. Nevertheless, this 
new fichl of duties, instead of bringing the repose and 
change of life he so nuicli needed, plunged him into 
the discharge of a more arduous and perilous profes- 
sional life. His society was souglit by all social circles 
with great eagerness. To the aged he was ever a most 
welcome guest ; his animated conversation charmed 
them, and the enjoyment he received in hearing them 
relate events of bygone days, made them feel, as they 
expressed themselves, " young again." To those in the 
meridian of life his society possessed a general charm — 
his fine conversational powers, his winning manners, 
his versatility of talent, drawn from a mind thiit was a 
perfect storehouse of knowledge, could not be excelled 



72 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

by any one. By young persons his appearance was 
hailed "with dehght ; his manly beauty, his graceful de- 
portment, with his great desire to contribute every 
thing in his power to amuse or instruct them, made 
them anxious for his society. The Doctor's passionate 
attachment to children made their pure young hearts 
spring fortli to meet his affectionate embrace wherever 
they beheld him. As it became necessary for him to 
live in St, Louis to attend to his duties as commis- 
sioner, he removed with his family to that city in June, 
1833. A month after their departure from St. Gene- 
vieve, the cholera broke out in the most frightful form 
in St. Louis. Little could be done by the Board in a 
time of death and distress, and he devoted himself 
night and day to the victims of the pestilence. In 
the month of September his friends in St. Genevieve 
sent an express, entreating him to retm'n to them, if it 
was only for a few days, informing him that many of 
his most valued friends had been swept from the Avorld 
within a few days by the cholera, and that the deepest 
gloom hung over the village. They declared " that the 
united voice of every citizen implored their kind friend 
and successfid physician to come and give them medical 
aid, that if mortal man could save them from the cholera 
he could." The Doctor was not proof to such an ap- 
peal : concealing from his family the cause of his de- 
parture, he went immediately to relieve his friends. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 73 

Many of the citizens when describing the effect of his 
arrival among them, said, " The very sight of Dr. Linn 
inspired hope and confidence, and they felt he was hke 
an angel of mercy come to restore liealth and happi- 
ness to them, throngh the blessing of God." Taking 
little rest for tAvelvc days and nights, the Doctor at- 
tended constantlv to the sick and dvino;. At length he 
was seized witli the cholera liimsclf. Believing he 
would die, he despatched a faithful Prcnch servant, 
Antoine, for his wife. His greatest earthly hope was 
to see her before his death. In less time than the 
distance was ever travelled before, Aiitoiue reached St. 
Louis, at eight o'clock in tlie morning. It required 
but a few moments for Mrs. Linn to take her departure 
to join her husband. As there was no steamboat to 
leave St. Louis for some hours, a friciul brouLi;lit an 
excellent horse and carriage to her, and offered to ac- 
company her. Thanking him for his kindness, she pre- 
ferred going with xVntoine, as she knew she could 
accelerate the journey more \vitli her servant than with 
any other person. Grovenior Dodge was at that time 
in the city, but unfortunately had Avalked out on busi- 
ness. xVs the exigency of her summons made every 
moment precious, she sent a messenger for him and 
hurried on her way. The road being better on the 
Tlliiiois than the Missomi side of the river, they crossed 
the Mississippi at St. Louis and travelled at a very rapid 



74 LIFE or DR. LINN. 

rate ; but night came on when they were still three 
miles from the ferry-house opposite St. Genevieve. 
A slow fine rain had been falling all clay, and it now 
became so intensely dark that the nearest object could 
not be seen, and it was only by the flashes of lightning 
which now and then lit up the heavens, that they could 
see they were still in the road. At length Antoine told 
Mrs. Linn that there was a thick wood, more than a 
mile long, through which they must pass before they 
reached the ferry -house ; that it was intersected with a 
great number of sloughs putting back from the river ; 
that it was perilous to pm-sue the road in the darkness 
and storm, but that if she would permit him to turn 
back a little distance, he could find a road that led to a 
small village, where she could remain until daylight, 
and reach St. Genevieve early in the morning. Mrs. 
Linn implored him not to think of doing so, but to 
remember his promise to her husband to hasten her 
journey without any delay : that he must now keep on 
at all hazards, for she would not stop unless forced to 
do so until she was under the same roof with her hus- 
band. Antoine then gave her the reins and went in 
advance, feeling for the road through the woods a short 
distance at a tune, and, as he found it, cahed to her 
and she drove up to him. In this manner, groping 
their way, Antoine in advance, they proceeded until 
they passed the woods, and reached the ferry-house. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 75 

Although satm-ated with the contmued rain, aud veiy 
much bruised by the Kmbs and low branches of the 
trees through which she had passed, Mrs. L. was so 
absorbed in agonizing appreliensions for her husband, 
that she was insensible to the injuries she had received 
and the discomfort of her person. On entering the 
ferry-liouse, a number of persons were found assembled 
in a large room, — many of tliem victims of the cholera 
—three were dying. Mrs. L. instantly requested the 
ferryman to take her across the Mississi])pi without 
delay. lie pointed to the dreadful condition of his 
family, and tokl her it was utterly impossible to do so. 
He couhl not leave them, a(kling that the night was 
too dark and tempestuous to attempt crossing the river. 
In great distress she exclaimed, " Is there no one here 
who for the love of tlie Blessed Vii'gin will assist me 
over the liver to my dying Imsband ? " Inunediately a 
fine-looking young girl rose from the bedside of one 
of the dying persons where she had been kneeling, and 
said, " Mrs. Linn, I Avill tjike you over with the assist- 
ance of Antoine, if you will go in a skiff." Her father, 
the ferryman, objected in the most positive terms to 
the attempt. The young woman remonstrated with him 
saying, " My fother, do you not remember all that good 
Dr. Liim did for us when my mother died, and the 
great trouble he underwent Avhen my brother James was 
so long sick, and that he never charged us for Avliat he 



76 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

did ? indeed I cannot refnse to take his wife to Hm 
when he may be dying." " Go, Margaret," said her 
father, " and may the saints protect you." Mrs, Linn, 
Margaret and Antoine, hastened to the river. The 
night continued intensely dark and the thunder rolled 
terrifically, but the rain had ceased, and flashes of light- 
ning illuminated the water and the objects around 
them. They entered the skiff, and Margaret directed 
Antoine to take the steering oar while she used the 
paddles. At a short distance from the shore the waves 
filled the boat and it sank, fortunately in shallow w^ater. 
They waded to the bank, Antoine dragging the skiff 
with him. Mrs. Linn persuaded him to empty the 
water, and prepare for another endeavor to cross the 
river. ]\Largaret directing him to take the paddles, said 
she w^ould manage the steering oar, and get safely 
across, although the wind was very high. Again they 
embarked in the skiff, and in a few moments Avere 
rapidly gliding over the water. As they approached 
the Missomi shore, they discovered that the skiff was 
leaking very fast. Margaret told Mrs. Linn that she 
would find a tin bucket under the seat, and that she 
must use it with all her strength in throwing the water 
out of the skiff, or it Avould sink and all would be lost. 
Mrs. Linn followed the instructions of the admirable 
girl, and the powerful use Antoine made of the paddles 
brought them safely to the shore. They had but 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 77 

abandoned the skiif an instant Avlien it filled in deep 
water. Mrs. Linn urged J\Iargaret to go with her into 
St. Genevieve and remain until dayhght, but the kind- 
hearted girl replied, " Oh, I nuist retiu'n as soon as 
possible to my suffering family." Being near the house 
of a friend on the river bauk, Mrs. Linn prociued a 
good boat, and two stout men to take ^Margaret back 
to her father. She pressed her to receive money for 
the great services she had rendered, but the noble girl 
positively refused, and said, " that which she had done 
was for the sake of her religion and the debt of grati- 
tude she owed Dr. Linn." 

Mrs. Linn was repaid for the risks she had encoun- 
tered by finding her husband still living, and that hopes 
were entertained of his recovery. Ill as he was, he 
was inexpressibly rejoiced to behold her, and prayed 
God to spare his life for the sake of his wife and 
children. Governor Dodge reached St. Genevieve the 
following morning, and told j\Irs. Linn that he had 
frequently overtaken Indians rnnning from him with all 
the fleetness for which they are remarkable, but he 
should never again try to overtake a wife flying to seek 
a sick husband. He had left St. Louis half an hour 
after her, and although mounted on a fine horse, had 
tried in vain to overtake her 



CHAPTER IV. 

The day before Dr. Linn was taken ill, liis predecessor 
in the United Sates Senate, Col. Alexander Biickner, 
and his wife, both died of the cholera. Immediately 
numerous petitions were sent from different parts of 
Southern Missoiu-ito Gov. Dunklin, urging him to select 
Dr. Linn to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of 
Col. Buckner (in the U. S. Senate). A large number of 
Wliigs signed these petitions, stating that they knew a 
Democrat must fill the office, and they preferred Dr. 
Linn to any other man of that party, as they knew he 
would attend to the business of his political opponents 
before Congress as faithfully as he would discharge his 
duty to his democratic constituents. Before Dr. Linn 
was sufficiently restored to health to leave the hospitable 
mansion of his friend, the Hon. John Scott, in St. 
Genevieve (where he had been attended with miwearied 
kindness by that gentleman and every member of his 
family), he received the appointment of U. S. Senator 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 79 

from Gov. Dunklin, ^Yllic}l was confirmed by the miani- 
mous vote of tlie Missouri Legislature, as soon as that 
body convened. 

One of the agreeable anticipations he had indulged 
in taking his seat in the U. S. Senate was, the oppor- 
tunity it would afford him to cultivate an intercourse 
with Gen. Jackson, who had been the hero of his 
heart's wannest admii-ation from his youth. He had 
frequently expressed the hope that Gen. Jackson would 
be elected to the presidency. In 1823, when Gen. 
Jackson was elected to theU. S. Senate from the State 
of Tennessee, Dr. Linn said at a large, dinner party at 
the Hon. John Scott's, in St. Genevieve, where there 
were present several distinguished politicians, that he 
firnilv believed the election of Gen. Jackson at that 
time to the Senate was the preciu-sor of his being elected 
to the presidency in a few years. His friends laughed 
at liis enthusiastic admiration of the Hero of New 
Orleans, and Judge Pope of Illinois remarked to him — 
" You never will be able to find seven votes in Missoiui 
or Illinois that would sustain Gen. Jackson for that 
high station." Dr. Linn replied, that such was the 
confidence he had in the sound judgment of his 
countrymen, that he would be Avilling to i 'edge his 
life that before the expiration of ten yea^'o, no political 
men in either Missomi or Illinois would be sustained, 
who were not in favor of Gen, Jacks m for the presi- 



80 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

dency. In five years the Doctor's prediction was 
verified. 

Difiident of liis powers in public debate, Dr. Linn 
rarely spoke in the Senate during the first few years he 
was a member of that body, but devoted his attention 
to the private claims of Missouri, in which he was very 
fortunate ; for, of the number of bills he presented to 
the Senate for his constituents he never lost one. 

He possessed the respect and esteem of every 
member of the Senate without regard to political 
opinions. The highly gifted and liberal senator, Mr. 
Crittenden, from his native State of Kentucky, was his 
warm friend, and said of him, that Dr. Linn possessed 
a high order of intellect ; was resolute, courageous, and 
ardent in all his pursuits. A decided party man, 
he afterwards participated largely in the business of 
the Senate and the conflicts of its debates, but there 
was a kindness and benignity about him, that, like 
polished armor, turned aside all feeling of ill-will or 
animosity. He had political opponents in the Senate, 
but not an enemy. 

The eloquent AV. C. Preston, senator from South 
Carohna, once said to a gentleman in Philadelphia, " Dr. 
Linn is .he only Democrat I should be distressed to 
hear had become a candidate for the Presidency ; for, 
good Whig as i am, I could not bring myself to vote 
against such a ijure and noble patriot as I know him 



LIFE or DR. LINN. 81 

to be, and one wlio loves his country with a zeal rarel} 
equalled and never surpassed." 

The great Western statesman, i\Ir. Clay, in a letter 
addressed to J\Irs. Linn, expressing his grateful feehngs 
for Dr. Linn's great kindness in his medical attention 
on his son, observed, " The greatest boon you can ask 
fi'om Heaven, my dear madam, is that your son may 
resemble liis father, wlio connnands the admiration and 
gains tlic love of all that know him." If such w^ere 
the sentiments of Dr. Linn's political opponents towards 
him during exciting times in the Senate, what may be 
imagined were the feelings of his own political friends, 
where not a cloud of political difference could cast a 
shadow over the warm sunshine of their friendship ? 

During the first session Dr. Linn was hi the Senate, 
he became acquainted with our present Chief Magistrate, 
Gen. Pierce, then the much-admired, and youngest 
member in the House of Representatives. The Doctor 
deemed himself most fortunate in living in the same 
mess with Gen. Pierce, for whom he soon formed a 
warm friendship ; he loved to dwell on the rare com- 
binations in his friend's character — of the cool, dis- 
criminating judgment of the North, with the warm 
chivalry of Southern feehng. Little then could he 
imagine that the friend in whose society he spent so 
many happy hours, w^as to be the best friend of his 
bereaved family hi adversity, w^hen he slept in the 



82 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

tomb — not only to aid liis only son on the field of 
battle in a distant country, but to kindly extend his 
friendship to him from the highest station on earth. 

When Gen. Pierce became a member of the U. S. 
Senate, the pleasm-e of Dr. Linn's intercourse with him 
was increased by fonning the acquaintance of Mrs. 
Pierce, whose pure and lovely character made the 
Doctor esteem and admire her as one of the first ladies 
in our country, a model for her sex. Ardent in his 
feelings, the deep attachment he felt for some of the 
senators, with the kindest regard for all of them, ap- 
peared daily to increase until the time of his death — 
he felt, with all the sensi])ility of his noble nature, the 
kindness mth which they had all treated him while 
discharging his senatorial duties. His absorbing love 
for Missouri had made him ask much for his gifted 
State, and, as all he required was reasonable, not a 
senator felt disposed to ^■ote against him who was ever 
happy to have it in his power to do a favor for any one 

of them. 

So fortunate was Dr. Linn in getting bills through 
the Senate for the benefit of Missouri, that one day, 
when in his usual happy manner he was presenting a 
nmnber of bills to the Senate, his friend Mr. Buchanan 
remarked jestingly, " that it would save much time to 
the Senate, and great trouble to the Doctor in reading 
these bills, to put them in a pile and say, ' These bills 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 83 

are Dr. Linn's for the benefit of Missomi,' and tlms 
let them pass as they are sure to do." This suggestion 
was in the same spirit of pleasantry seconded by Mr. 
Clay. There was one bill for the benefit of Missouri 
which Dr. Linn carried twice through the Senate, and 
was much grieved that the House of Representatives 
did not act on it — it was the appropriation which the 
Senate made to drain the swamp lands in the southern 
part of the State, which were so deleterious to the 
health of a large portion of the coimtry during the warm 
season. To drain these swamps would not only be 
beneficial to the health of the inhabitants of the 
country, but land woiUd be redeemed that would form 
many rich counties for the State. 

At the time Dr. Linn took his seat in the U. S. 
Senate there was great excitement in the two political 
parties of our country. It was frequently the case that 
some of the distinguished statesmen of our nation 
rather avoided forming the acquaintance of new senators, 
because they were of different political opinions, while 
others took pleasure in culti\ating an intercourse with 
those who possessed a similarity of taste and feeling 
with themselves, not permitting a difference of politics 
to mar the pleasure of social intercourse. 

Dr. Linn had been in the Senate some time before 
any thing more than the common civilities of life had 
taken place between himself and Mr. Clay. At length 



84 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

a young son of Mr. Clay's came to visit his father at 
Washington City. A few days after his arrival he was 
taken very ill, and his life appeared in imminent danger. 
Many of Mr. Clay's personal friends who had received 
medical aid from Dr. Linn, urged Mr. C. to send for 
the Doctor to visit his son, expressing their confidence 
in his medical skill. Mr Clay said it was impossible 
for him to ask such a favor of the Doctor, as he was 
scarcely acquainted with, him, and knew the Doctor 
would receive no remuneration for his professional ser- 
vices. Young Clay grew rapidly Avorse, and it was 
thought he could live but a few hours. His father, 
overcome with anxiety and the entreaties of his friends, 
addressed a note to Dr. Linn, soliciting him to come as 
" the Good Samaritan," and strive to save the precious 
Ufe of his son. The Doctor immediately complied with 
the request. Mr. Clay meeting him at the door of the 
sick room, his countenance expressing the deepest 
anguish, accosted him with, " I thank you with all my 
heart, Doctor, for coming to see my son, but it is too 
late ; I am confident his hours on earth are numbered ; 
my dear boy must die." Dr. Linn tried to inspire 
hope in the heart of the parent, and after a close ex- 
amination of the youth, who lay in a lethargic state 
which appeared to be the precursor of death, said, 
" Mr. Clay, trust your son to me ; go to the Senate, 
and should my vote be wanted for Missouri, send for 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 85 

me ; in the meanwliile I will stay witli your son, using 
every effort with God's blessing, to save his life." In 
an instant of time how were the feelings of these two 
gentlemen changed towards each other ! the cold frost 
of party feeling was swept off by the warm sunshine 
of the heart's best inipidses, and they both felt how 
much pleasure was in store for them in a futme friendly 
intercourse. Mr. Clay went to the Senate, leaving his 
son in charge of Dr Lum, by whose medical skill he was 
once more restored to health, and from that time forth 
the Doctor was the friend and medical adviser of j\Ir. 
Clay. The friendship of the latter continued towards 
his family as long as he lived. 

A few years previous to ]\Ir. Clay's death he visited 
St. Louis, and the morning after his arrival, in leaving 
his own church he obser\^ed Mrs. Linn returning from 
hers ; coining up he accosted her, saying, " although 
it was the Sabbath he could not refrain from inquiring 
after her health." After enterhig her house his eye 
rested on the portrait of Dr. Linn, and he added, " I 
wished to talk to you of the light of other days, as 
this is the first time we have met since your great be- 
reavement." 

Dr. Linn's enthusiastic devotion to Missouri carried 
him far beyond political feeling : towards every son and 
daughter of that noble State he felt the strongest 
fraternal regard. He lived in the utmost harmony with 



86 LIFE OF UR. LINN. 

his colleagues from his own. State, highly respecting 
Col. Benton as a great statesman, and feeling the 
warmest attachment for the energetic and generous 
Gen. Ashley, who had for long years been on the most 
intimate terms of friendship with himself and many 
members of his family. The unwearied zeal with which 
Gen. Ashley served Missomi met a ready response in 
the ardent bosom of Dr. Linn ; they both felt their 
State pride much gratified in seeing it so well repre- 
sented in om- national halls, and also in the salons of 
fashion by many of the most lovely and attractive 
ladies. The charming and intellectual Mrs. Asldey 
(now Mrs. Crittenden), the beautiful and attractive 
Mrs. Col. Stuart, and the lovely Mrs. Decansor, were 
greatly admired by Dr. Linn, as they were universally. 
Like himself, in their youth they had been transplanted 
from their dear native State, Kentucky, to the State of 
their adoption, Missomi. 

It gave Dr. Linn great pleasure to meet in the Halls 
of Congress his gallant young friend, Geo. W. Jones, 
a delegate from Wisconsin Territory, who had been his 
devoted friend from his boyhood, and took great pleasure 
in spending much of his time with the Doctor, and 
frequently visiting his family, every member of which 
felt the warmest attachment for Gen. Jones. 

It was with a feeling of parental pride and pleasure 
that the Doctor beheld the energy and devotion with 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 87 

which Gen. Jones served his constituents ; and it was 
mth hvely satisfaction lie heard the great AVebster once 
say to Mrs. L., he " thought her young friend had done 
more to aid his constituents than had been accom- 
phshed by any other delegate." Although the general 
had no vote in Congress himself, he obtained an influ- 
ence with those who had votes, which was of great 
advantage to the prosperity of Wisconsin. 

When Dr. Linn first entered the Senate, Missouri 
had but four representatives ; two in the Senate, and 
two in the House of Representatives. There were but 
few newspapers printed in the State, and general in- 
formation was very far from being largely diff'used 
among its rapidly increasing population. To obviate 
this want as much as possible, and to give pleasure to 
those that had reposed so much confidence in him. Dr. 
Linn, on coming to Washington, sent a great number 
of newspapers and public documents to his constitu- 
ents : to obtain their names and places of residence, 
application was made to the sheriff of every county in 
the State, and a list of names ])eing taken from the 
poll-tax books, the Doctor arranged them in a large 
book, so that all of the citizens of Missouri might receive 
some papers from him during the sessions of Congress. 
To meet this expense, he appropriated from three to 
five hundred dollars every session while he served in 
the U. S. Senate. 



88 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

Not satisfied with serving Missouri in the Senate 
with all the energy of his noble heart, Dr. Linn did 
every thing in his power to develope the vast resources 
of his State. While the Northern and Eastern people 
of our country were amusing themselves at the fable 
(as they termed it) of an iron mountain in Missouri, he 
had a lump of iron, weighing two tons, taken from the 
mountain and sent to Paris, to be submitted to the in- 
spection of men of science. They reported that, it was 
the best of iron, and, for many purposes, far superior 
to any they had ever seen. In compliment to the 
Doctor, these gentlemen had a beautiful set of orna- 
ments made from some of the iron, and sent as a present 
to Mrs. Linn. 

The pru-e and very white sand which is found in 
great quantities near St. Genevieve, was first taken to 
Pittsburg by the Doctor to be tried in the Glass Works 
there, and was found to make the most beautifid glass. 
It is now used exclusively in the great manufactories 
of glass along the Ohio River. 

As there were constant new discoveries of precious 
metals in the different mines in the southern part of 
Missoiu-i, and the mode of mining was in a very im- 
perfect state, Dr. Limi determined to visit the mines in 
Europe, and bring home with him men experienced in 
mining, who could instruct our OAvn people, who, for 
want of information on the subject, had many difficul- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 89 

ties to contend with, wliich retarded the prosperity of a 
country rich with a great vaiiety of metals. Many a 
Missourian felt interested in the laudable motive which 
prompted Dr. Linn to visit Europe ; and one accom- 
plished gentleman, who is not only an honor to the 
American army, hut whose pure and patriotic feelings 
induce him to aid his country in exery way in his 
power, Avas so much pleased Avith the Doctor's design, 
that (aware of his limited means) he tendered him 
what money he could readily command, and his credit 
for any amount he might find necessary to carry out 
his plans on a large scale, as it would be of such great 
advantage to JVIissouri. This generous and patriotic 
individual was Col. A. D. Stewart, Paymaster U. S. 
Army. 

That the Doctor was an observant traveller, the 
letter here j)ublislied, addressed to his wife from Lon- 
don, will abundantly show ; and it will probably be 
regretted by the reader tliat this is the only one from 
his pen it is in my power to present ; others addressed 
to his family at various times from Washington, de- 
scriptive of men and society in that political centre of 
this great Kepublic, of fashionable life as he saw it, haxe 
unfortunately been lost. He was a discriminative ob- 
server of human character, and a great admirer of 
elegant simplicity, unpretending manners, and genuine 
goodness of heart ; while no one held in greater dislike 



90 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

every thing like assumption, liautem-, pretence, affecta- 
tion, and that bad taste which overloads with di^ess or 
ornament. 

Though eminently social in his disposition, gifted 
with conversational powers in a high degree, and full 
of pleasantry and anecdote, Avliich caused his society to 
be much sought, and insm^ed him a warm and cordial 
welcome wherever he came, he had little taste for what 
is termed fashionaljle society in AVashington, looking 
upon it as ostentatious, heartless, chilling, and unsatis- 
factory. It was in a small circle of select friends, and 
in the bosom of his own beloved family, that the subject 
of this memoir deUglited to indidge in a free and easy 
social converse, and to give the reins to his scintillating 
wit and innocent mirth. Por fashionable society he 
had no love ; but for his friends the warmest affection, 
and this was ardently reciprocated. No one had 
warmer friends, no one was more truly esteemed and 
sincerely beloved. 

The incident mentioned in the following letter in 
regard to the purchase of a shawl for Mrs. Linn, by 
direction of one to whom it had been in the power of 
the Doctor to show kindness and render professional 
service, will illustrate his power of winning the affections 
as well as the esteem of those with whom he was 
brought in close contact, as it was also illustrated in 
the incident related in regard to Mr. Clay's son. The 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 91 

whole secret of this power lay in the warm and generous 
feelings of his own guileless heart, the entire absence 
of all selfishness, and that overflowing goodness which 
ever prompted him to do all in his power to alleviate 
the sufferings and promote the happiness of those around 
him, thoughtless of himself. But though in rendering 
senices to, and conferring benefits upon others, self 
never entered his mind, yet such goodness is like 
mercy : 

" It droppetb, as the gentle rain from heaven, 
Upon the place beneath : it is twice blessed : 
It blesseth hira that gives, and him that takes." 

It is a perpetual sunshine in the heart that beams forth 
through the countenance, and gives it that indescribable 
expression which makes even ugly featm'es lovely and 
attractive. 

The letter to which I have referred will show that 
Dr. Linn had an eye for the pictm-csque, and all the 
beauties of cultivated and of uncultivatcMl nature, as 
w^ell as a pen of most gia})hic poAver. With the aid 
of this we shall find the journey from Boidogne to 
Paris one of continual interest, and pleasure. 

London, SeiDtemher 17, 1839. 
My Beloved Wife : 

I have WTitten you many, very many letters 
since my arrival in England, and hope most sincerely 



92 LIFE or DR. LINN. 

tliat they all may have reached you, as I flatter myself 
that they would prove a great source of consolation. 
Youi" truly affectionate and beautiful letters, four in num- 
ber, have proved a blessing to me, and have been read 
over and over again, as proving that I still live fresh and 
green in the memory of my beloved wife and children ; 
for to be embalmed in their affections, is the height of 
my earthly wishes and hopes. 

I will commence Avhere I left off in my longest 
letter. I took lodgings in a boarding-house kept by 
an Englishwoman on the plan of an American house. 
She is short, thick, fat, loquacious, obsequious to those 
above her, and a tyrant to those below ; keen, sarcastic, 
unfeeling and avaricious, — these are her principal vir- 
tues. • Her daughter. Miss F , is about twenty- 
two years of age, above the ordinary stature, quite fat, 
or rather as a rrenchman would say, inclined to " em- 
boupoint," with a tolerably handsome face, shaded very 
much by a profusion of dark brown curls of her own, 
or borrowed from the dead or bought from the living — • 
cannot say which — she plays well on the piano and 
harp, and speaks the Prencli remarkably well. She is 
certainly an accomplished woman, and would she per- 
mit common sense to have fair play, would be an in- 
teresting one. She assumes the delicate, sensitive, 
languishing, lacadaisical beauty. Her eyes are usually 
cast down, and have a half-sleepy and dreamy expression. 



I.IFE OF DR. LINN. 93 

The living was only tolerable, for which I had to pay 
$20 per week, and for candles and servants besides. 
Will you believe it ? my washing costs me from $3 to $7 
per month. You can get nothing done here Avithout 
paying well for it, for there seems to be an organized 
system of extortion upon strangers from one end of the 
island to another. Prices are extravagant for almost 
every thing but clothing, and to strangers there is very 
little difference between this and our own countrv. 

Mr. Lamb soon changed his quarters, and it seemed 
from some cause or other tliat I should not go with 
him, for as Col. March of St. Louis soon after arrived 
and came to the same house, I concluded to remain, 
particularly as it was difficult, even in this great city, to 
better ourselves. Hotels and eating-houses are abun- 
dant, whilst boarding-houses are few in number, so that 
you are limited in choice. 

There was only one Englishman in the mess — the 
remainder, ])erhaps twenty in lumdjer, were Americans, 
with and without families, and among the number was 
a Mrs. Hoffman from Baltimore. She was a delicate, 
sickly-looking little creature, with jet-black hair, eye- 
brows ]\X'&icommiii(/lui(/,]w^i dividing ; nose straight, but 
slightly turned up at the end, giving a jjiquant expres- 
sion to the countenance — mouth small, beautifully 
shaped, and when sne smiled or laughed many dimples 
played about it — the lower lip slif/ldlij poutirif/ ; chin 



94 LIFE or DR. LINN. 

small and well tiu'necl ; eyes large, black, brilliant and 
expressive ; skin not fair but of a mellow, lustrous white, 
more deeply interesting to me than red and white. 
When I first saw her it was at the breakfast table ; her 
head was inclined to one shoulder, when she tiu-ned it 
slightly and her eyes met mine — and such a look from 
those lovely eyes fringed mth long, black, silken eyelashes 
as made me nearly start from my seat ; it seemed as if 
my long-lost daughter had again returned to earth ; but 
how much grown, and how little changed in face from 
the httle girl we had parted with ! it seemed as if the 
dead had arisen — my feelings can be better imagined 
than described. They stayed but a few days, and as 
sickness often confined her to the room I saw but little 
of her, but that little convinced me that she was as 
pure in morals and mind, as she was lonely in person ; 
and though we may never meet again, the recollection 
of my first view of her beautiful face will always be 
pleasant and mournful to the soul. 

You will doubtless remember a handsome young 
man by the name of Plitt, of Pennsylvania, who, as 
post-olfice agent visited oiu* house in St. Genevieve, and 
perhaps called on us in Washington. He married a 
Miss Wager of Philadelphia, a tall, stout, well-made 
Dutch girl, with dark skin, noble Roman features, 
showy and dashing manners, very intelligent, and a 
heart beating with kindness and affection — she is an 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 95 

admirable lady, and one that vonwonld love. I found 
them a truly admu^able couple, and great source of en- 
joyment to me in this stranger land. 

The next in order for the present was the Robinson 
family of New York, consisting of father, mother, and 
daughters. Mr. Robinson is a most excellent and 
amiable gentleman, who left his own dear America in 
search of health for himself, and pleasure for his family. 
He is about fifty-six years of age. Mrs. R. was a 
tall, graceful, dignified, intelhgent, noble-looking lady, 
about forty-eight or fifty years of age. She was the life 
and soul of our society, and her lively sallies of A^it and 
humor diffused warmth and sunshine wherever she 
went. 

The eldest girl is dark-skinned hkc her mother, but 
has the high fcjitures of the father : she is in statm^e 
above the usual height, graceful and easy in her 
manners, though they might be considered by the world 
a little too cold and distant. Her eves are very black, 
and the whole expression of her countenance pensive 
and pleasing. The second daughter is a tall, slender, 
graceful, blue-eyed, fair-skinned gnl, of gay, sprightly 
manners, and cheerful disposition — always on the mng 
in search of pleasure, and always ready and willing to 
impart it to others ; and pleasure they all had to over- 
flowing, even to satiety ; for Mrs. Robinson being second 
cousin to Sir George Rose, a distinguished baronet and 



96 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

an important member of Parliament, they were invited 
to a great many dinners, balls, parties, concerts, the- 
atres, operas, &c., &c., &c. 

They often remained out at night until three o'clock 
in the morning. This lasted about ten days after my 
arrival, when one morning at breakfast Mrs. Kobinson 
complained of being very sick, and leaving the table, 
retired to her room. During the fore part of the day 
I often sent to know hoAv she was, and her daughters 
uniformly answered to these inquiries that their mother 
was quite sick. I repeatedly offered my services ; they 
were gently but firmly declined, and even an admission 
into her room to see how she was. In the com'se of 
the day I often met Mrs. Plitt, who uniformly expressed 
great uneasiness for Mrs. Eobinson. Still she would 
neither see me nor send for another physician. 

On pressing Mrs. Plitt to know what was the matter 
with Mrs. R , she informed me that it was almost in- 
cessant vomiting. Just after supper I told one of the 
girls that although her mother had persisted in refusing 
my services, I was determined to see her, even if I had 
to enter her room contrary to her wishes. She smiled 
at my earnestness, but whilst at tea she came and in- 
formed me that her mother was not only willing, but 
anxious to see me then, as she felt herself much worse. 
I found her laboring under the second stage of cholera. 
I prescribed the usual remedies, and most earnestly 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 97 

requested to be sent for in the night, in the event of 
the medicines producing no salutary effect. This was 
not done, for fear of giving trouble to me as a stranoer 
upon whom they had no claims whatever. In the morn- 
ing at nine o'clock I found her decidedly worse. I then 
informed Mr. Robinson of her critical situation, and 
desired that he would caU hi other medical aid ; not 
that I had any difficidty in the treatment of her case ; 
but that, being out of regular practice, I wished to avoid 
so responsible a trust ; and, moreover, if the attack 
should end fatally, the family and friends would have 
good reason to congratulate themselves upon the reflec- 
tion, melancholy as it was, that f/tej/ had done all they 
could do to avert the arrow of the Grim Tyrant. He 
called in considtation Sir James Anderson, who coin- 
cided with me in opinion that she was in decided 
danger. Our efforts for forty-eight hours were vigorous 
and unceasing, but alas 1 unavailing. She died in the 
arms of her beloved husljand, children and brother, 
and surrounded by a few friends from her native, but 
far distant country. And such a death— so triumj)h- 
antly Christian ! so calm, so self-possessed, that I would 
give all the glory and wealth of this world, if in my 
power, to die as she died. Such thrilling advice and 
admonition to husband, daughtei-s and brother, — such 
heart-rending adieus I never heard in all this checkered 

life of mine, so full of melancholv and sorrowful re- 
5 



98 LIFE or DR. LINN. 

collections. She bade a most affectionate farewell to 
Mrs. Plitt, and, indeed, to all who had been near her 
person during her sickness ; and when she called me 
to her bedside I sunk upon my knees, her glazed and 
sunken eyes were turned upon me, with her clay-cold 
hand in mine ; she said she hoped that God would 
guard, guide, and keep near Hivi me and mine, for 
my kindness and attention to her in that, her last horn 
of hfe, suffering and trial. She prayed earnestly for 
forgiveness for past sins, and felt a lively and cheering 
conviction that they would be forgiven through the blood 
and intercession of Our Saviom, the Lord Jesus Christ. 
My heart felt much too big for my body, and many 
were the tears shed by me on this melancholy occasion. 
She was placed in a leaden coffin enclosed in one of 
wood, and on the second day after her death conveyed 
to Kensall Cemetery, about three miles from London, 
on the road to Windsor Castle. Yoiu* imagination, 
my beloved wife, can scarcely picture to itself so sweet 
a spot, devoted to so sad a pm^pose — it is just out of 
the great Babel — ^just out of the verge of its sins and 
sorrows, and seems on the borders of the spirit-land. 
It contains about fifty or sixty acres of ground, enclosed 
by a high brick wall, immediately within which is a 
beautiful green hawthorn hedge. The whole lot is laid 
out in little plantations already occupied, or to be occu- 
pied by the last remains of poor mortality, until the 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 99 

angel of God shall sound his trump from on high, to 
call up by its thunders the quick and dead to stand 
before the everlasting throne. Around enchfouns/iin^ 
plantation is a row of tombstones marking the ^clio and 
the iclien. Between each tombstone are planted flowers, 
evergreens and rose-bushes — in every spot where grass 
grows it is cut down close to the earth — fit emblem of 
man's frail and mortal condition. The roads throush- 
out the grounds are broad and neatly gravelled, and at 
regular distances the mournful cj-press and other ever- 
greens are planted, alternately -with rose-bushes and 
other flowering shrubs ; whilst at their feet bloom every 
variety of bcautifid flower that Mora can ofler to man. 
In the midst of all this display, which seems intended 
to take as much as possible from the horrors of the 
tomb, stands a neat, beautiful little chapel, of the 
Church of England, but at which ministers of other 
denominations officiate on such occasions. 

Into this the body of Mrs. R. was conveyed on a 
dark, damp, gloomy English day, and set down half 
way between the door and altar. She was of the 
Anglican Church, consequently the officiating minister 
was of that persuasion. He read in a deep, solemn, 
and impressive voice, the service for the dead, Avhich 
was responded to by the clerk ; and now and tlien the 
trembling voice of a mounier might be heard mingling 
in the service, and echoed by the lofty walls and arches 



100 LIFE or DR. LINN. 

of the building. When the service was near the close, 
the coffin was seen to move by an invisible hand, and 
sink through the floor gradually and slowly. When it 
had nearly disappeared, the melancholy sounds were 
heard which struck a cold damp to the heart of each 
sorrowing friend, "dust to dust," and dust was scattered 
upon the coffin as it departed from our sight and sunk 
into the damp vaidts below, there to remain until taken 
from thence, to be conveyed, according to her own re- 
quest, to her beloved America. A few days after the 
interment, Mr. Robinson came to my room with tears 
in his eyes, and remarked that he had seen enough of 
me to know that he could not hope that I would accept 
any pecuniary compensation for my attentions to his 
wife, but he thanked me in the most kind and feeling 
terms for those attentions, and left my room for the 
country with his daughters, after a warm shake of the 
hand, and with professions of sincere regard. 

After my pamphlet was finished with the map, 
having some leism-e, I took a flying trip to Paris, the 
great seat of learning, science, and art. ,Mr. Plitt, 
wife and self, left London Bridge in the steamship 
Mao-net for Boulome in France. We had literally to 
weave our Avay through a forest of masts, or rather 
through a vast crowd of ships and watercraft of every 
size, sort, and description. We passed the Royal 
Docks of Deptford, Greenwich, Gravesend, Sheerness, 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 101 

the Nore, and tiiniing the pomt to the south, on which 
stands a very lofty lighthouse, whose bright blaze is 
thrown far away upon the A\-ide and stormy deep, to 
cheer the heart of the sailor when tempest-tost and 
seeking a safe haven for his little bark, we came 
broad out into the English Channel — night came on, 
and as we passed along the coast, the lights of Rams- 
gate, iMargate, and the celebrated Dover, became visible 
along the English side, and Calais and Boulogne on the 
French, 

We continued our corj-se until twelve o'clock at 
night, Avhen we entered the harbor of Boulogne at 
high tide. Our trunks were immediately taken pos- 
session of by the custom-house officers, Avhilst, after 
examining our passports, we were permitted to go to 
our hotel. Morning came with slow and measured 
steps to me after passing a sleepless night, and looking 
out, I found the harbor perfectly free from water, and 
all the shipping sticking bolt upright in the nuid. I 
had forgotten that this harbor is made by the rise of 
the tide, which is very great at this point, and unmade 
by its retirement. After breakfast we took oiu* de- 
parture in the cumbrous French dihgence, and began 
our journey over the vine-covered hills and gay regions 
of France. A diligence, my dear Libby, is about three 
times as large as oiu- stage coaches, and is divided 
into tlu-ee compartments ; and so lofty is it, that a 



102 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

ladder is used on whicli to mount on the top — the 
whole win contain fifteen or twenty persons. 

We travelled day and night over this beautiful land ; 
but still I find many objections to the country on the 
route from Boulogne to Paris — there is too great a 
scarcity of villages, towns and country-seats — and when 
you do find the latter, they are generally much out of 
order, and in the construction of the mansion house, 
and in the arrangement of the grounds, a want of taste 
is very manifest ; indeed, it was only m dense forests 
which were like oases in a desert, whose umbrageous 
shade was too thick for even a straggling sunbeam to 
enter, that you found these manor-houses at all. As 
to the villages and towns, they all presented a most 
antiquated and worn-out appearance. Our own St. 
Genevieve is 2i perfect beauty to any of them, I assure 
you ; and blessings on its simple and venerable head ; 
the seat to me of youth's early and romantic dreams, 
of the joys and sorrows of manhood's maturer years, 
and holding at present all that my heart holds dear ; 
wife, children and friends. Yes ! it is a perfect heauty 
spot to me, and although I may travel to the uttermost 
ends of the earth, tread the palaces of kings, and stand 
unawed in the presence of princes, my heart wUl turn 
with fond afiection to the home of my youth, and to 
the land that has so lavishly heaped honors upon me. 

The large towns were Montreuil and Abbeville, both 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 103 

walled and strongly fortified; bnt on entering their 
gates the same marks of age and decrepitude appear ; 
naiTow, dirty streets, crumbling walls and dilapidated 
ruins ; but still much of animation is seen, and the 
music and dance of om- French friends of St. Gene\deve 
are almost seen and heard, for it was a festival day when 
we passed through, and all the young girls w^ere dressed 
in white and walked the streets bareheaded, whilst the 
old folks had caps or blue handkerchiefs on theirs. 

We passed Abbeville at nine o'clock at night, and 
not long after came upon the ground where was fought 
the celebrated battle of Cressy. Ages seemed to roll 
back to the period when this spot was the scene of a 
fierce and bloody conflict between nations hostile to 
each other almost from their origin. The shouts of 
victory are no longer heard, even to the ear of imagina- 
tion, the shock of contending armies no longer seen, 
and nothing is lift to tell the fate of the mighty dead 
but a few lines of history. As we passed along through 
the woods of Cressy the cold night winds swept mourn- 
fully through its venerabfc trees, resembhng the fitful 
moans of departing spirits. Morning came, and the 
sun rose in beauty over the plains all glittering with 
dew ; and his roseate beams were shed over tower and 
tree in glorious effulgence. This gave us an opportmiity 
to examine the country with an inquisitive eye — here 
and there a small handet rising out of a clump of tall 



104 LIFE OF DR LINN. 

and graceful trees : or now and then a more consider- 
able village, partially hid by orchards, might be seen, 
and close by a hnge windmill, whose enormous wings 
and arms are waving in endless rotation in the air. 
Almost every hill or eminence in Trance is croAvned 
with one or more of these mills. 

About nine o'clock in the morning we reached 
Beauvais, a large town, from which emigrated the an- 
cestors of our friends, the St. Genevievans. On the 
approach to the place, its venerable, stately, and truly 
noble-looking Gothic cathedral first rose to view. Time 
with his effacing fingers has been at work ; as yet he 
has only touched, not destroyed. I believe this chm'ch 
is the work of the twelfth or thirteenth century, and 
Beauvais is celebrated in history for one of the most 
affecting incidents ever recorded : it was besieged by 
a hostile army, and reduced to the last extremity ; 
quarter was refused to the men, but leave given to the 
women to leave the town with as much as they could 
carry on their backs of their most valuable effects. 
Accordingly they were seen issuing from the gates of 
the town with their fathers, husbands and lovers on their 
backs. The church is one of the finest memorials of 
the age in which it was built now extant, and presents 
a grand and imposing appearance — ^but here again we 
have narrow, crooked, and du-ty streets, with crumbling 
walls and decayed columns ; sad remembrances of 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 105 

better days. We passed along these streets until the 
diligence stopped at apparently a decayed tavern, which 
no one under heaven— no, not even a Yankee, could 
guess capable of furnishing a breakfast for so many 
hungry and half-famished travellers ; and yet it did : 
and one of the very best — first-rate coffee, bread and 
butter, stewed and fried chickens, fresh pork and 
broiled ham, boiled and fried eggs, excellent soup, and, 
indeed, every thing that coidd satisfy the appetite of a 
famished traveller. " Well done, Beauvais," cried I ; 
"myfi-iends of St. Genevieve preserve their love of 
good living, which doubtless their family acquired 
whilst residing here" — ^butstop — on looking out of the 
window, many signs over doors caught my eye on which 
were written J. B. Beauvais, " marchand," or Beauvais 
"Tient Aubcrge ici," or A. Beauvais, "Forgeron" — Ma 
parole, c'est vrai. 

We left Beauvais in the finest humor, and as we 
slowly ascended the hill that overlooks the town I 
showered praises on it, on account of its name and the 
excellent cheer it had afibrdcd us. It has perhaps a 
population of five thousand souls, and tlie country 
around fertile, well cultivated, and presented us with 
the first vineyard we had seen. in France. We moved 
on slowly, and in the course of tlie day passed many 
such venerable-looking towns and villages, and in the 
evening arrived at Paris, and put up at the Hotel 



106 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

Meurice, Rue Rivoli, near the Palace of the Tuile- 
ries. 

Paris is beautifully situated on the Seine, in a lovely 
valley, overlooked by several heights, in the distance, 
such as Montmartre, and Mont St. Louis, on which 
is situated the celebrated burying-ground of Pere la 
Chaise, where repose in eternal silence some of the most 
stupendous intellects that ever adorned the globe. 
The pensive man, as he wanders through these death 
paths, will experience sensations of melancholy mingled 
with delight, for here death seems to have existence 
in the quiet, and the perfume, and the beauty of nature. 
The sad cypress hangs over ihe passer-by, but roses 
and violets are at his feet ; the monumental urn is 
before his eyes, but it is relieved by a thousand beautiful 
objects, in which art and affection have combined to 
honor the memory and decorate the mansions of the 
dead. The lustres of centuries have burned out, but 
their light still seems to stream through the mind. 
Here, as he wanders through the tombs, filled with a 
holy fervor before those which contain the ashes of the 
good, and over which myrtles and jessamines, planted 
by a sorrowing wife or pious child, spread their rich 
fragrance ; or turns with pity for poor humanity from 
those pompous mansions of dust, in which lie the re- 
mains of men to whom wealth and power alone gave 
distinction in life, and procured for them a gilded sep- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 107 

ulchre and a lying monumental history, he stops before 
the plain wooden tablet where the only sign of funereal 
greatness is the gilded cross ; but around which shrubs 
are smiling and flowers are bm-sting forth, whilst a sister, 
daughter or wife, may be seen sending forth a silent 
prayer to the ever-living God, to be mercifid to the 
li\dng and to the dead. Excuse me, dear wife, for thus 
often introducing you to the mansions of the dead ; 
but if God in his mercies will spare me, my childi'en 
shall ha\e a tomb worthy of their beauty and angehc 
natures. Morning comes, and tliey are present to my 
mind, and as sleep falls upon me in the silent watches 
of the night, their visions pass before me as the images 
in a magic lantern. 

But to go back a little — the country from Boulogne 
to Paris is gently rolling, but strangely destitute of 
houses, villages, and even trees, at least along the route ; 
and as you see no fences or hedges, it strongly reminded 
me of my own dear prairies adorned with then- islands, 
clumps, and islets of trees. But still every inch of 
ground is highly cultivated, and the traveller is con- 
stantly asking himself the question, where do the people 
come from that perform all this labor ? The secret is 
they reside in little villages off from the roadside, and 
go to their work like our good people in their big field. 
Occasionally we met a wagon or cart, in structm^e ex- 
actly like those of Vide Poclie, and as to the plough 



108 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

and harness, tliey are exactly the same — even the names 
of their horses are ahke, and yon will hear them calling 
to " Dauphin and Libertin," to quicken their step. 

As I had but a few days to stay in Paris, they were 
devoted to the paintings and statuary in the Louvre 
and Luxembourg, Jardin des Plantes, Hospital of the 
Livahdes, Pantheon, Notre Dame, which is a vast and 
venerable Gothic pile, the palaces of St. Cloud and the 
glories of Versailles — the magnificence of which sur- 
passed all that my imagination had conceived or pictured 
of oriental gorgeousness and splendor. Li my opinion, 
it stands alone and unrivalled ; and may it always so 
stand, whilst palaces are built by money wrung from 
the sweat of the people's brows. 

The day after our arrival, Mr. and Mrs. Plitt urged 
me to go with them to a celebrated shawl merchant's, 
to aid in the selection of those elegant Prench shawls 
so much like the cashmere and almost as costly. She 
insisted on my making the choice, which I reluctantly 
did at 250 francs. On our retmii in the carriage she 
placed it in my hands, as a present to you from Mr. 
Robinson, with the letter from him to me, and which is 
sent with this. It would be difficult to portray my 
feelings at such delicacy of gratitude, as it was entirely 
unlooked-for. 

Occasionally I attended to the debates in the House 
of Lords during the sitting of Parliament — ^but ghosts 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 109 

of Chatham, Biirke, Pox and Pitt, what speakmg ! If 
the characters of these great men for eloquence could 
be torn up and divided among the speakers I heard in 
Parliament, broad as their mantles were, there would 
not be enough to hide the nakedness of their successors. 
Such stammering, repetition, and unfitness I never 
heard. Bad as the nonsense was, it was rendered in- 
finitely Avorse by the delivery ; and such speaking I 
assiu'c you would soon deliver both Houses of Congress 
or anv of our Le";islatures, 

I arrived here after the last drawing-room, and 
consequently coidd not be presented to the queen. 
But at all events I coidd not, or would not go to the 
expense of several hundred dollars to purchase a court 
dress, and I am rather too proud to Idre one, which was 
sometimes the case here this season. Webster, I am 
told, went to the expense of a new suit. I have occa- 
sionally seen the queen on several public days, and 
think her rather pleasing in her appearance, and very 
much like Antoinette Boy, raised by old Madame Le- 
compte, though Antoinette is much the best looking of 
the two. 

I wiU not attempt to describe to you the splendor, 
riches and beauty, of this great commercial metropolis 
of the world. The concentrated riches of the globe 
seem to be here — spacious parks dressed in the deepest 
green, and divided into beautiful parterres, rendered 



110 LIFE or DR. LINN. 

lovely as the eye could desire by evergreens and flowers 
— every where over the city open squares have been 
left, surrounded l)y elegant iron railings, and planted 
with shrubbery, where groups of children may be seen 
at play — ^these add greatly to the health and beauty of 
this noble city. Paris excels in its paintings, palaces 
and pubhc buildings, London in every thing else. 

Since my arrival, money affairs here have been in 
the worst possible condition — men looked into each 
others' faces with suspicion, and turned with disgust 
from every proposition relating to American property 
and security, and the recent protest in Paris of a milhon 
and a half of drafts drawn by the Bank of the United 
States, I fear will give the finishing blow to every thing 
American. Mr. Lamb and myself have done every 
thing that could be done to insure success, but I fear 
the result. We will continue our efforts up to the last 
moment. 

I will return to Missoiu-i to attend to my private 
affairs, as you suggest in your letter of the 3d of 
August (your last), and to take you on to Washington, 
and accordingly make your arrangements. I think I 
will place my boy at the college near St. Louis. Should 
I not succeed in getting money I shall be dreadfully ha- 
rassed, but in no event will we be separated this winter. 

* . * * * * * * 

* * * * 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. UJ 

Present me to aU my old friends— love to my chil- 
dren, and blessings upon your head. 

Yours affectionately, 

Mrs. E. a. Linn. ^- ^^ ^'^^' 



CHAPTER V. 

From childhood Dr. Lmn had serious feehngs on the 
subject of rehgion ; he daily read portions of the Bible, 
and took the most lively pleasure in having clergymen 
of every religious denomination make his house their 
home whenever they visited St. Genevieve; and in 
particidar those self-sacrificing pioneers of rehgion, the 
Methodist clergy, who endured every sort of privation 
and suffering to preach the Gospel to the inhabitants 
scattered along the frontiers of our Western country. 
Those pure and holy men cheerfully did so much for 
the cause of om- Blessed Redeemer, desiring nothing for 
themselves, that Dr. Linn and every member of his 
family deemed it a blessed and most delightful priv- 
ilege to entertain them. The Doctor felt a decided 
preference for the Methodist Church, and united himself 
to it on the 5th day of April, 1839, at Wesley Chapel, 
in the City of Washington. 

The winter previous he had been a constant attend- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 113 

ant on the ministry of that good man, the eminently 
pious Mr. George Cookman, then chaplain to Congress, 
with whom he formed a warm personal friendship which 
was so soon to terminate painfully in the loss of the 
latter, who was a passenger on board the ill-fated 
steamer President. 

In J\Iarch, 1843, on his retm-n home from Wash- 
ington Dr. Linn, with his usual considerate kindness 
to others, relinquished a very comfortable state-room 
that had been engaged for him in a steamer, to an old 
gentleman who was in bad health, and took a room 
near the wheel-house which was very damp. In con- 
sequence of this, the Doctor took a violent cold : he, 
however, resisted all entreaties to take medicine, when 
he reached home, feeling confident he would soon be 
well. But in a few days he became very ill, and con- 
tinued so for two weeks : he at that time informed his 
wife and children that he believed it impossible for him 
to live. This mournful presentiment Avas confirmed 
by both the attending physicians, and they frankly told 
the Doctor that they feared he had but a few hoiurs to 
live. 

He received this information with great calmness, 
and with the deepest tenderness bid his wife and chil- 
di'en farewell, praying that they would meet him in 
Heaven. With hearts overwhelmed and ready to burst 
with agony, his wife and children clasped the hands of 
8 



114 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

their dearest friend, when he suddenly exclaimed, " My 
sight is failing, my beloved wife, my darling children, I 
cannot see you." Mrs. Linn implored to know of the 
physicians if they had done all they could for the Doc- 
tor, they assured her they had ; " Then," she exclaimed, 
" I will do for him that which I have seen him do for 
others," and immediately ordered a quantity of turpen- 
tine to be heated, into which she dipped flannel, and 
with the assistance of others, commenced rubbing her 
husband's body so as to give him a bath of turpentine 
with much friction. In a few moments a profuse per- 
spiration overspread his forehead, and he cried out, 
" My dear wife and children, I again see you. I am 
better, but greatly exhausted." He immediately 
dropped into a sweet sleep which continued for three 
hours and then awoke free from all pain. He requested 
his friends to retire to rest and leave him alone with 
his wife. Left together, they held such a sweet and 
holy conversation that the recollection of it will be a 
consolation to the lone widow's heart to the latest hour 
of her existence. Mrs. Linn, fearing that talking too 
much might injure her husband, besought him to try 
and compose himself and strive to rest ; she drew her 
chair near his bed, and placing her head on the pillow 
which supported his, holding one of his hands, said, 
" Let us both try to sleep, for my anxiety about you 
has been too great to permit me to take any rest for 



LIFE OP DR. LINN. 115 

some time ; but now, thank God, you are safe and I 
can sleep peacefully." They both sank into a deep 
slumber which continued a length of time, when the 
Doctor awoke with a violent start and exclaimed, " Dear 
wife, did you hear that ? " 

She assured him she had not heard anv thins;, and 
that all was quiet about them. "You are under a 
great mistake," he replied, " for I heard distinctly a 
voice say, Prepare, Leicis F. Linn, for this year thy 
soul shall he required of thee.'' Mrs. Linn tried to con- 
vince her husband that he had been dreaming ; but he 
insisted that it was not so, for the voice he heard was 
so loud as to awake him from a deep sleep. He re- 
quested her to look at her watch and sec what hour it 
was, then to take his day-book and write in it the 
time and day of the month, for slie would find before 
that time twelvemonths she woukl be a mourning widow. 

To gratify tlic Doctor, she did as he desired ; it 
was half-past one o'clock on the morning of the 28th 
of April, 1843. 

He then requested her to summon all tlieir family, 
and two visitors then staying with them, to his room, 
and especially to call her mother and send for Dr. Sar- 
gent. \Vlien all these friends were assembled around 
him. Dr. Linn told them what he had heard, and ex- 
pressed his finn conviction that his life would terminate 
before the expiration of that year. 



116 LIFE OF DR. LIN^'. 

His manner was so calm and solemn wlien lie gave 
his friends this information, that not one of them ven- 
tm'ed to try and convince him that he had been dis- 
tm'bed by a painful dream, though such was their be- 
Hef. He requested his friends to unite with him in 
prayer, and in a most powerful and thrilling manner he 
implored our Heavenly Father to have mercy on him, 
and in the blessed Redeemer's name to give him 
strength to prepare for eternity. 

He expressed his behef that his severe illness had 
greatly mcreased the disease of his heart, and that he 
was liable to be called to depart at any time, without a 
moment's warnino-. He recovered his usual health in 
a httle time, but still retained the impression that he 
should die soon, and commenced arranging his world- 
ly affairs. He made many improvements on his place, 
and when his friends expressed their pleasm^e in seeing 
him do so (as it was an evidence that he did not intend 
to leave them to move to St. Louis, as they had long 
feared), the Doctor would smile sadly, and remark, that 
he was striving to make his home comfortable for Ms 
wife and children, for he knew that he woidd soon be 
taken from them. AU who heard him make this ob- 
servation hstened with incredulous astonishment, as 
they saw him, to all appearance, in most perfect health ; 
but his medical knowledge made him fidly aware of the 
slight tenure by which he held life. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 117 

It had been some time since he had seen his very 
dear sister Mary and her family, and he determined to 
visit them in Wisconsin, and also his brother, Gov. 
Dodge, and his family, to whom he was tenderly at- 
tached : then to visit his friend. Gen. George W. Jones, 
who had ever been to him hke a cherished yonnger 
brother. He anticipated lively pleasure in seeing all 
these dear and highly valued fiiends in their own 
homes, and his noble heart entered joyfully into this 
last visit to those to whom he was so devotedly 
attached. 

On his retiurn, although looking well, he complained 
frequently of a violent palpitation of the heart, and a 
difficulty of breathing ; tlicse painfid sensations woidd 
not continue long, but they often reciured, and while 
they lasted were veiy distressing. 

His business matters annoyed him greatly, as he 
was compelled to pay some heavy security debts for 
those in whom he had placed great confidence. 

Onlv three weeks iDefore his death. Dr. Linn called 
to see a lady for whom he felt a great friendship, (Mrs. 
Rousan, daughter of the Hon. John Scott of St. Gen- 
evieve,) and told her that he had a great favor to ask 
of her, which was, that should she hear of his sudden 
death, she would hasten to his wife and remain with 
her until her mother could arrive. Mrs. R. was dis- 
posed to smile at such a request, coming from one 



118 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

looking in such perfect health. The Doctor took her 
hand and said in an impressive manner, " I know my 
true situation ; I may di'op dead at any moment from 
this di'eadfid disease, and the better my health appears, 
the worse it is for me, for I am far too plethoric. My 
death Avill be an awful blow to my dear wife, who can- 
not believe that my life is in danger while I am looking 
in good health, and therefore I hope you will stay with 
her until her relations come to her." Mrs. R. gave 
the promise which she most faithfully kept. 

The Doctor went to Mine Lamotte where he was 
detained by very harassing business for twelve days, 
and on his retm-n appeared very nervous and excited 
about a paper he feared was lost, and which was of 
great pecuniary value to him. The morning after his 
return, he desired Mrs. Linn to accompany him to his 
office and assist him to look for the mislaid paper, and 
the greater portion of the day was spent in a vain search 
for it. 

Mrs. Linn became alarmed at finding the Doctor's 
nervous agitation rapidly increase, and begged him to 
sit stiU while she continued the search. He replied 
that he should be compelled to do so, as he felt a violent 
vertigo in his head, which nearly made him blind. 
Mrs. L. continued searching, when suddenly her hus- 
band calling to her, observed, " There is a trunk under 
that table, in which, my dear wife, I have faithfully 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 119 

kept every line that you ever wrote me ; I may liave 
put the paper with your letters, and I will look there 
for it." He then stooped to draw out the trunk, Avhen 
his head dropped on the arm of the chair, and a horrid 
spasm passed over his face. In an instant she was by 
his side supporting his head. The Doctor's counte- 
nance soon regained its wonted composure, and he sat 
up apparently unconscious that any thing painful had 
taken place, and inquired if the paper had been found. 
Mrs. L. implored him to go to bed innnediately and 
send for a physician, as he was ill ; he smiled and re- 
plied that he was in his usual healtli, and insisted on 
still continuing to search for the missing paper, which 
Mrs. L. was so fortunate as to find a few moments 
after. 

Just at this time a young friend, now an eminent 
lawyer in the City of New Orleans, called to Mrs. Linn 
and requested her to come to him in her garden, and 
give him some of her beautiful autumnal flowers to 
send to N. 0. on a steamer about leaving for that 
city ; the Doctor accompanied her, and for some time 
the three walked in the garden enjoying a most cordial 
conversation — the last they were ever to have with each 
other in this world. For this young friend the Doctor 
and Mrs. L. entertained a warm, parental affection. 
They had watched him from infancy to the bright 
maturity of manhood, possessing endowments to com- 



120 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

mand their admiration and win tlieir love. The Doctor 
took great pleasure in conversing with and advising him 
in regard to his future course in life, and became warm 
and animated on the sul3Ject. Never, I am siu'e, will 
that young friend forget the eloquent and paternal 
solicitude which he manifested for his prosperity on 
that, the last evening that good man spent on earth. 

The shades of night were closing around the three 
who continued to walk in the garden, unconscious of 
the lateness of the hour, when supper was announced. 
Mr. R,., having an engagement, declined entering the 
house with Dr. and Mrs. Linn, who then approached 
the table to take the last supper that they were ever to 
enjoy on earth together. Before taking his seat at the 
table, the Doctor extended his arms over it, and made 
a beautiful prayer. His good old mother-in-law gazed 
on him with delight, and said, " My dear son, you look 
far more attractive and interesting than you did the 
evening you married my daughter, twenty-six years 
ago." The Doctor remarked, " You all keep me in 
such good humor with myself when I am at home, that 
I am induced to forget how heavily time has laid his 
hand upon my brow." After supper the Doctor con- 
tinued in unusually fine spirits, and did not exhibit 
any ill-effects from the momentary spasm which had so 
greatly alarmed his wife. Tor more than an liour he 
entertained his family with his violin, upon which he 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 121 

played with exquisite taste. He held his daughter 
(twelve years of age) a long time in his arms seated 
on his knees, telling her if God spared his life how 
perfectly her education should be finished. He then 
had a long and most affectionate conversation with his 
son, expressing his conviction that he vroidd die soon, 
and committing to his care his mother and sister, when 
they would have no other protector. 

Mrs. Linn coidd not refrain from feelino; the most 
painful anxiety in regard to her husband, although he 
looked so well, and urged him to retire to rest, but he 
declined doing so until twelve o'clock. He then re- 
quested her to read a chapter in the Bible, and some 
hymns, remarking that there were tAvo of a number of 
hymns she had often read to him, which he would like 
to think would be sung at his funeral. Finding this ob- 
servation greatly distressed his wife, he begged her to 
forget it, and said he would retire to rest. After praying, 
he requested her to lie down, and scarcely had she done 
so when he threw himself on the bed, looking very weary. 
His head resting on her bosom, in an instant he ap- 
peared to be in a heavy sleep. She did not move, 
feaiing she might disturb him, but she felt too much 
concerned to sleep. Day began to dawn, and Mrs. Linn 
discovered that the window shutter near their bed had 
not been closed ; fearing the light would awake her 
husband, she tried to rise as gently as possible to close 



122 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

it. AVitli all her care she could not avoid making a 
little noise, and the Doctor awoke and asked her why 
she rose so early ? A¥hen informed of the reason he 
said, " It is ever thus with you, my dear wife ; I firmly 
believe that your sleepless vigilance and kind nursing 
have added many years to my life." He then inquired 
whether she felt weU ; if so, he requested her to write 
the letters he had mentioned to her, and after he had 
taken a little more sleep he woidd get up, sign the 
letters, and they would both leave home in the first 
steamer, on a visit to St. Louis. He desired her to 
bring a little table near his bed and write there, that 
he might feel that she was near him. Mrs. Linn was 
leaving the room to get her writing materials, when her 
husband called to her to come and place another pillow 
under his head, which felt as if it was pressed down by 
a great weight. Wliile doing this, the Doctor threw 
his arms around his wife's neck and pressed her head 
upon his bosom, and while using some affectionate ex- 
pression dropped into his last sleep. For some hom-s 
Mrs. Linn sat close to her husband's -bed, writing and 
watching. 

As she finished her letters, her son came into the 
room, and seeing how calmly his father appeared to 
rest, urged his mother to try and sleep herself, as she 
looked very weary. Not wishing to leave her husband, 
whom she expected to wake every moment and call for 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 123 

her, Mrs. L. thought she would rest a while on the back 
part of his bed. In passing round to do so, she stopped 
and looked at the Doctor, who appeared to be sleeping 
as sweetly as an infant. Suddenly a dark shadow 
passed over his face, which greatly alarmed her, and 
she called a senant. In an instant more the same dark 
and unearthly expression came over the face of Dr. 
Linn, and the cries of both Mrs, L. and the servant 
soon filled the room with anxious friends and several 
physicians. Every efibrt was made to restore the Doc- 
tor to life, but all in vain ; he breathed for fifteen or 
twenty minutes after being bled, and expu-ed without 
a struggle or a groan. 

In moving him, the blood gushed from his eyes, 
nose and mouth ; the fatal aneurism had Ijm-st in his 
noble heart, and his precious soul was in heaven, — 
2 o'clock, October 3d, 1843. 

As soon as Dr. Linn's death was known, meetings 
were convened in every county in the State of Missouri 
for the purpose of paying tributes to the memory of 
their deeply -lamented and favorite statesman. Eloquent 
speeches were made on this mournfid occasion, and 
from all these meetings letters of condolence were sent 
to his bereaved family, 

AVisconsin and Iowa, then territories, claimed the 
privilege of mourning the death of Dr. Linn, as if he 
had been their own senator ; he had served them so 



124 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

f\iitlifully in the U. S. Senate, where they were too 
young to have a voice, that then* citizens felt \Aith the 
deepest gratitude all he had done in that body, for the 
prosperity of their respective territories; and on the 
assembhng of their Legislatures, after pronouncing 
beautifid eulogies on Dr. Linn, passed unanimous re- 
solutions in both their legislative bodies to wear mourn- 
ing for him, and send letters of condolence to his widow 
and family. So great were the number of letters of 
condolence addressed to Dr. Linn's bereaved family, 
from every part of the United States upon the an- 
nouncement of his death, as to form a large volume. 
Copies of some of them ^\dll sei-ve to show what were 
the feelings of sympathy expressed in all. 

The State of Missouri erected a splendid monument 
over the remains of their favorite statesman, Dr. Lewis 
r. Linn, by the unanimous vote of their Legislature. 



PUBLIC LIFE OF DR. LIM 



lT . 



OK, 



TEN YEARS' SERVICE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



BY N. SARGENT, 



ADVERTISEMENT. 

I FEEL it due to myself to sav, that, to prepare a notice of 
the Public Life of Dr. Linn, was an undertaking I should 
never have voluntarily, and at the suggestion of my own mind, 
assumed ; and I have prepared the following at the request of his 
amiable relict, with a consciousness of my inability to do justice 
to the late Senator, and to meet the expectations of his numerous 
and warm-hearted friends. 

It is to be regretted, that some one of those whose intimacy 
with Dr. L. would have enabled him to have written an account 
of his senatorial life more satisfactory to his friends, and with 
an ability that would have enhanced the value of the work, did 
not take upon himself to perform this duty. 

There are those who had the privilege of an intimate and 
familiar personal intercourse with him for many years, who, of 
course, knew him far better than I did, and who could have en- 
livened the narrative of his public life with many interesting and 
characteristic anecdotes. It was not my lot to be upon intimate 
terms with him. Our personal acquaintance was but slight. I 
knew him only as a Senator ; and considering that our acquaint- 
ance was so slight, and that we belonged to opposing political 
parties, it is not a little singular that the labor of preparing a 
notice of his public services should have devolved upon me. All 
I can say in regard to the manner in which this has been ex- 



128 ADVERTISEMENT. 

eciited, is, that I have endeavored to do justice to Dr. Linn, and 
with that view, to make him speak for himself as often as possi- 
ble, through the debates of the Senate in which he took part. 

I am indebted solely to the public records of the country, — 
chiefly to the journal and debates of the Senate, — for the mate- 
rials from which I have compiled this memoir. I had hoped to 
have obtained some anecdotes and incidents of an interesting 
character from the few personal friends of the Doctor who are 
still here, that would have broken the monotony of the narrative ; 
but in this I have been disappointed. 

From the only specimen of his epistolary talent that has not 
been lost, — his letter to Mrs. Linn, from London, — we cannot 
but regret that the numerous letters he must have written from 
Washington, in his playful moods, and when he felt keenly and 
spoke freely in regard to public men and measures, fashionable 
society, the gayeties, follies and frivolities of metropolitan life 
during the winter season, have been lost. The absence of such 
anecdotes and incidents, and also of his private letters, is thus 
accounted for. It is hoped, however, that the account of his ten 
years' service in the Senate will be found neither uninteresting 
nor unprofitable reading. 

N. SAKGENT. 

Washington City, Oct., 1856. 



PUBLIC LIFE OF DE. LIM ; 

OB, 

TEIT YEAKS' SERVICE m THE UKITED STATES SENATE. 



CHAPTEU I. 



It has already been mentioned that Doctor Linn was, 
in the autinnn of 1833, appointed by the Gover- 
nor of the State of Missouri, a Senator of the United 
States, to fill the vacancy which had been created by 
the death of Alexander Buckner. He accepted the 
unsought appointment vrith that distrust of his own 
merits and ability to discharge the arduous duties ac- 
ceptably to the people of his State, which often marks 
talent of a high order and great capacity for usefid- 
ness in public station. 

Upon entei-ing that august body he deported him- 
self with a modest reserve most creditable to him, 
and commendable as an example to others of less 



130 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

ability than fell to liis lot; yet this diffidence in 
his own powers, and that sense of propriety which 
prompted him to allow more experienced senators to 
take the lead in the business and debates of the Sen- 
ate, did not prevent him from giving his unremitting 
attention to whatever affected the interests of the State 
he in part represented, nor from bringing forward 
measures calculated to promote her welfare and that 
of her citizens. 

Seldom has the Senate of the United States con- 
tained a greater number of men distinguished for 
talent and eloquence, and eminent for pubhc sei-vices, 
than belonged to that body at the time Dr. Linn en- 
tered it ; and becoming a member for the first time of 
any legislative body, it cannot be matter of smprise 
that he should at least not seek to attract attention by 
occupying much time or taking a prominent part in 
debate. Nor did he consider this necessary to the 
interests of his State, since his colleague, Colonel Ben- 
ton, was already numbered among the oldest senators, 
and one of the most prominent in all important debates. 

The following gentlemen constituted the Senate at 
the, commencement of the session of 1833-4, on the 
first session of the 23d Congress, the time Dr. Linn 
entered it, to wit : 

Maine — Pcleg Sprague, Ether Shepley. 
New Hampshire — Samuel Bell, Isaac Hill. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 131 

Massachusetts — Nathaniel Silsbee, Daniel Webster. 
Rhode Island — Ashur Robbins, Neheraiali R. Knight. 
Connecticict — Gideon Toralinson, Nathan Smith. 
Vermont — Samuel Prentiss, Benjamin Swift. 
New Tor/?:— SUas Wriglit, N. P. Tallmadge. 
Neio Jersey — T. Prelinghuysen, Samuel L. Southard. 
Pennsylvania — WiUiam Wilkins, Samuel McKean. 
Delaware — John M. Clayton, Arnold Naudain. 
Maryland — Ezekiel F. Chambers, Joseph Kent. 
Viryinia — Wm. C. Rives,* John Tyler. 
North Carolina — Bedford Brown, Willie P. ]\Iano-um. 
South Carolina — John C. Calhoun, Wm. C. Preston. 
Georyia — John Porsyth, John P. King. 
Kentuchj — George M. Bibb, Henry Clay. 
Tennessee — Fehx Grundy, Hugh Lawson Wliite. 
Ohio — Thomas Ewing, Thomas Morris. 
Louisiana — G. A. AVaggaman, Alex. Porter 
Indiana — AVm. Hendricks, John Tipton. 
Mississippi — Geo. Poindexter, John Black. 
Illinois — Elias K. Kane, John M. Robinson. 
Alabama — W^m. R. King, Gabriel jMoore. 
Missouri — Thos. H. Benton, Lewis F. Linn. 

This was the first session of Congress held after the 
election of General Jackson for a second term, find was 
as remarkable for the exciting topics introduced and 

* In consequence of a series of resolutions adopted by the Legislature of 
Virginia, expressing views and sentiments different from those held by Mr. 
Kives, and instructing her senators to support measures which he could not 
conscientiously support, he resigned his scat early in the session, and was suc- 
ceeded by Benjainin Watkins Leigh, a man of great eloquence and distin- 
guished ability. 



132 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

made the subjects of heated pohtical discussion, as it 
was for the amount of talent and the number of dis- 
tinguished men it contained. 

The bill to recharter the Bank of the United States, 
passed by the preceding Congress, had been vetoed by 
President Jackson in 1832, and the public deposits or 
government funds had been removed from the bank 
shortly preceding the connnencement of this session. 
Upon these subjects the country had been, and now con- 
tinued to be, greatly agitated, and political feeling prob- 
ably never ran higher. Every man m the community 
became to a.certahi extent a politician, and thousands 
of wealthy business-men — merchants, manufactm*ers, 
artisans, mechanics and professional men, who never be- 
fore interested themselves in pohtical affairs, — ^now took 
an active part in the disturbing questions of the day. 
From every quarter — State Legislatm-es, county conven- 
tions, cities, towns, various mercantile and mechanical 
associations, from citizens of every class, profession and 
employment — came pouring in resolutions, memorials 
and petitions, condemnatory of the removal of the de- 
posits from the United States Bank, and depicting in 
elowins language the stao-nation in business, and the 
general derangement and distress it had occasioned. 
These were mostly sent to the Senate, and when pre- 
sented, were made the occasion for an eloquent speech 
or speeches by the senator to whom they had been 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 133 

intrusted, and not imfreqiiently by Mr. Clay, j\Ir. 
Webster, Mr. Calhoun, ]\Ir. Ewing, Mr Clayton, and 
other distinguished senators, opposed to the administra- 
tion, and by Mr. Wright of N. Y., Mr. Forsyth, jMr. 
Grundy, Mr. Benton, and others in reply and in defence 
of the President. 

Early in the session Mr. Clay introduced resolutions 
condemnatory of the President for dismissing the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury (Mr. Duane), because he would 
not remove the money of the United States in deposit 
with the Bank of the United States in conformity with 
the President's desire, and appointing his successor 
(Mr. Taney) to effect such removal, and declaring that 
in so doing, the President had " assumed the exercise 
of a poAver OAcr the Treasury of the United States, not 
granted to him by the constitution and laws, and dan- 
gerous to the liberties of the people." 

These resolutions were the subject of a very able, 
but very heated and acrimonious deliate, which lasted 
until the 2Sth of ^larch, when they were modified by 
the mover, and that relating to the President passed in 
the following words : 

" Besohed, That the President, in the late executive 
proceedings in relation to the public revenue, has as- 
sumed upon himself authority and power not conferred 
by the constitution and laws, but in derogation of both." 
9 



134 LIFE or DR. LINN. 

In opening the debate upon liis resolutions in an 
elaborate, highly -wrought and powerful speech, on the 
26th of Dec., 1833, Mr. Clay commenced by saying, 
" We are in the midst of a revolution hitherto blood- 
less, but rapidly tending towards a total change of the 
pure republican character of the government, and to 
the concentration of all power in the hands of one man. 
The powers of Congress are paralyzed, except when 
exerted in conformity with his will, by frequent and an 
extraordinary exercise of the executive veto, not antici- 
pated by the founders of the constitution, and not 
practised by any of the predecessors of the present 
Chief Mgistrate." 

In addressing the Senate upon this subject in one 
of his thrilling speeches, Mr. Calhoun said, alluding to 
the entrance of Caesar, sword in hand, into the treasury 
of Rome : " They [the Administration] have entered the 
treasmy, not sword in hand, as pubhc plunderers, but 
with the false keys of sophistry, as pilferers, under the 
silence of midnight. The motive and the object are 
the same, varied in like manner by circumstances and 
character. 'With money I will get men, and Avith 
men money,' was the maxim of the Roman plunderer. 
With money we will get partisans, with partisans votes, 
and with votes money, is the maxim of our public pil- 
ferers. With men and money, Coesar struck down 
Roman liberty at the fatal battle of Philippi, never to 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 135 

nse again ; from wliicli disastrous hour all the powers 
of the Roman repubhc -were consolidated in the person 
of Caesar, and perpetuated in his line. With money 
and corrupt partisans a great effort is now making to 
choke and stifle the voice of American hbertv, through 
aU its natural organs : by corrupting the press ; by 
overawing the other departments ; and, finally, by set- 
ting up a new and polhited orgjui, composed of office- 
holders and corrupt partisans, under the name of a 
national convention, which, counterfeiting the voice of 
the peopk', will, if not restrained, in theu' name dictate 
the succession ; when the deed will be done, the revo- 
lution be completed, and aU the powers of our repub- 
lic, in like manner, be consolidated in the President, 
and perpetuated by his dictation." 

In closing this celebrated speech, Mr. Calhoun gave 
utterance to the following impassioned and impressive 
language : 

" AVe have arrived at a fearfid crisis ; things can- 
not long remain as they are. It behooves all who 
love their country, who have affection for their off- 
spring, or who have any stake in our institutions, to 
pause and reflect. Confidence is daily withdrawing 
from the General Government. Alienation is liom-ly 
going on. These will necessarily create a state of 
things inimical to the existence of om' institutions, and, 
if not speedily arrested, convulsions must follow, and 



136 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

then comes dissolution or despotism, when a tliick cloud 
will be tlu'OAMi over the cause of liberty, and the futm^e 
prospects of our country." 

In opening his speech, Mr. Ewing said: "The 
sudden alarm in all quarters of the country, occasioned 
by the removal of the pubHc funds, the magnitude of 
the calamity which it has brought upon the people, and 
the just apprehension of stiU greater evils which are to 
follow in its, train, give to the subject a grave and ab- 
sorbing interest." 

These extracts will suffice to show the temper of the 
times and the inflammatory character of party politics 
at the period when Dr. Linn first became a member of 
the United States Senate. Of the debates which took 
place during this session, he was a silent but not an 
indifferent listener. Ardent and sincere in aU his opin- 
ions and sentiments ; entering, as he was accustomed 
to do, with his whole soul into Avhatever interested him, 
and being a warm personal as well as political friend 
of General Jackson, whose measures he approved, and 
whom he believed to be a bold, upright, and patriotic 
Chief Magistrate, though his modesty and distrust of 
his own powers of debate deterred him from entering 
the arena where so many, and such celebrated cham- 
pions were contending with keen weapons and bright 
and polished armor, yet he failed not to sustain the 
President by his votes and by his sympathy and en- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 137 

coiiragement, wliicli the latter by no means under- 
valued. 

The war carried on during this session by the 
Wliisfs ai^ainst the Administration, and the Adminis- 
tration against the Whigs, may weU be styled, from the 
character of the leaders and champions on both sides, 
"the war of the Titans, or Giants." Truly, when we 
behold the number of able, eloquent, and distinguished 
statesmen who were then arrayed ao;[iinst each other in 
the Senate, we may exclaim, " 1'liere Avcrc giants in 
those days." But those giants have passed wtiy ; the 
noise and din of their battle has ceased, and many of 
them have been called to a higher sphere of action, 
where the wicked cease from troubling, and the Avcary 
are at rest. 

Ha^dng devoted himself heretofore most assidu- 
ously to the studies and arduous duties of a profession 
Avliich required him to give attention to the constitu- 
tions and diseases of the human body rather than to 
those of the body politic — unaccustomed to the duties 
of a legislator and to gra})pling with the knotty ques- 
tions and nice distinctions of law, and never liaving 
made the great science of jurisprudence a study, he 
was now placed in a field of action not only new to 
him, but for which his previous studies and occu})ation 
in life had not altogether prepared him. No one knew 
this better than himself; no one saw as he did the 



138 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

necessity of familiarizing himself with those great 
and general principles of constitutional, international 
and municipal law, which form the basis of our free 
institutions, and guaranty to us a degree of civil Hberty 
which falls to the lot of no other people. With sena- 
tors and members of the House of Representatives of 
the United States, generally, Avho are mostly lawyers, 
these leading principles of law are familiar acquaint- 
ances and of frequent reference ; they have been with 
them subjects of study and of daily forensic discussion 
before judicial tribunals ; not so with those of other 
professions and occupations, and they must therefore 
feel less at home amid such discussions, and more 
reluctant to take part in the debates of the body of 
which they are members, especially if, as Avas the case 
with Dr. L., they had never taken part in the discus- 
sions of political questions before the people in popular 
assembhes, and upon what is technically called " the 
stump," where, according to the practice in some 
States, mind grapples with mind, logic with logic, and 
all the powers of the speaker are tasked, called forth, 
exercised and improved. 

But though Dr. Linn did not venture into the 
arena of debate amidst the Titans of the Senate, he 
was not unmindful of the interests of the State which 
he represented and her citizens, but exerted himself to 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 139 

obtain appropriations for the improvement of the har- 
bor of St. Louis and of the Mississippi river. 

Singularly but characteristically it appears, in ex- 
amining his "record," that the first thne he stood 
prominently forward in the Senate, was to act the part 
of a mediator or peacemaker. 

^Ir. Callioun had made an elaborate speech upon 
the dangerous abuse of Executive Patronage. Mr. 
Benton replied, commenting upon the report of the 
committee, of wliicli j\Ir. Calhoun was chairman, and 
who reported the bill muler consideration, " with great 
warmth and severity." ]\lr. B. read from the report 
the following : " It is to convert the entire body of 
those in office into corru})t and supple instruments of 
power, and to raise up a liost of hungry, greedy, and 
subservient })iu"tisans, ready for every sendee, however 
base and corrupt." ]\Ir. B. remarked, " corrupt and 
supple instruments of power," and the gentleman has 
done me the honor to identifv me Avith them, ' as base 
and corrupt.' ■"' ■■•■ "''■ It is not necessary that I should 
repel the accusation, for the whole people of tlie United 
States will drive it back upon him as a bold and direct 
attack upon truth ! " Mr. B. was here called to order 
by ]Mr. Poindexter, and the objectionable words "a 
direct attack upon truth " taken down. 

A debate ensued upon the question whether the 



140 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

words were a breach of order, during a part of which 
much excitement prevailed in the Senate. 

The Vice President, Mr. Van Buren, decided that 
the words did not charge the senator from South 
Carohna with falsehood, and were therefore not of a 
personal character ; from which decision an appeal was 
taken. After several senators had spoken eloquently 
and warmly on the subject, Mr. Linn rose to express 
his deep regret that any thing should have arisen to 
disturb the harmony of debate. Por the honorable 
Senator from South Carolina he entertained the utmost 
respect, and for his honorable colleague, whom he had 
known so many years, he felt the warmest friendship. 
He regretted the unpleasant occiuTence of that morn- 
ing, though he was bound to say it was not an unusual 
one. He felt convinced that the Senate had been 
often out of order, in the course of debate, and the 
friends of the administration frequently had to bear 
much from gentlemen on the other side. 

This w^as undoubtedly true. It was true that great 
latitude had been allowed in the debates of the Senate. 
Political feeling ran high throughout the country ; the 
most intense acrimony characterized the political con- 
flicts of the two parties into which the country was 
divided, and every where the war between them was a 
"war to the knife, and the knife to the hilt." No 
quarter Avas asked, none expected, and none given. It 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 141 

was not strange then that the feehng which animated 
the masses of the people should find its way into the 
bosoms of senators, and an outlet in language, which, 
if kept within the bounds of senatorial decorum, was 
not the less provoking and initating to those to whom 
it was applied. 

The decision of the President of the Senate was 
reversed, and ^^•ithout retracting any thing Mr. Benton 
was permitted to proceed witli his remarks. 

At the close of this session, the second of the 
twenty-tliird Congress, 1834-5, another subject was 
introduced which produced much feeling and called 
forth a very heated debate. A misunderstanding had 
sprung up between the governments of Trance and the 
United States in regard to the payment of indemnity 
for spoliations by the former to the latter. The amount 
due had been settled by treaty or convention, but the 
King of the Trench, Louis Philippe, had refused or un- 
reasonably neglected to pay over the stii)uluted amount. 
Under these circumstances the President of the United 
States, Gen. Jackson, never disposed to be trifled with 
nor to permit his country to be, was strongly inchned 
to resort to coercive measures. An amendment was 
therefore adopted in the House of Representatives to 
the Fortification Bill on the last day of the session, 
appropriating $3,000,000, to be expended in whole or in 
part, under the direction of the President of the 



142 LIFE OF DR LINN. 

United States, for the military and naval service, includ- 
ing fortifications and ordnance, and increase of the 
navy : Provided, such expenditures should be ren- 
dered necessary for the defence of the country prior to 
the next meeting of Congress. 

This amendment, which was intended to enable the 
President, in case of a rupture mth Prance, " to secure 
the safety of the country until the assembling of Con- 
gress," was earnestly and warmly opposed. In favor 
of the appropriation it was urged that it was well 
known that " there was a pecidiar crisis in our foreign 
relations, and it was now too late to go into the detail 
of legislation." 

Dr. Linn advocated the appropriation, and declared 
that he should vote for it, although it was an extraor- 
dinary one, because he thought it necessary under the 
present state of affairs. He could not believe that 
this Chief Magistrate or any other who might preside 
over the destinies of this people, would make a wrong 
or improper application of their funds. 

The amendment failed to pass the Senate and 
therefore fell to the ground ; but it was the subject of 
very acrimonious discussion subsequently in the public 
press, and served to add intensity to the already em- 
bittered feehng between the two great parties. 

But though the amendment failed, it is proper to 
add that the high tone and firm stand taken by the 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 143 

President, soon bronglit abont an amicable adjustment 
of the misunderstanding by the payment, in gohl, of 
the amount due from France to our citizens, which was 
all the President had desired or asked. 

It was in connection with this affiiir that the Presi- 
dent made the celebrated and patriotic declaration that 
"The Government of the United States would 

DEMAND nothing BUT WHAT WAS RIGHT, AND WOULD 
SUBMIT TO NOTHING THAT WAS WRONG." A SClltiment 

worthy of Washington himself, and which ought to 
be inscribed in letters of gold upon the front of the 
Executive Mansion, and over the seats of the presiding 
officers of both Houses of Congress. 

Dr. Linn had now been two terms, or dming one 
Congress, in the Senate, and had become known to the 
members generally ; and with acquaintance grew es- 
teem. From an examination of some of his private 
correspondence, it is seen that he had already won the 
friendship of many distinguished mcndoers of the body 
of which he was a member, to whom he was, person- 
ally, an entire stranger wlien he entered it ; nor was 
this friendship in any instance interrupted so long as he 
and they lived ; on the contrary, it became more and 
more ardent, and each was more and more esteemed by 
the other. Such, indeed, were the warm and affection- 
ate disposition, the kindly social feeling, the agreeable 
conversation and the genial temper of the Doctor, that 



144 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

those who had once come in close and social contact 
with him, could scarcely prevent his taking captive their 
willing hearts, and loving him for his many noble quali- 
ties, lie was the soul of honor, and his sense of what 
was due to others as well as to himself, of the most 
dehcate kind ; yet not such as to prompt him to be on 
the watch for personal affronts and neglects ; far from 
it ; for while he had a just appreciation of himself, his 
modesty woidd not permit him to doubt that he re- 
ceived from others all the respect that was justly his 
due. While no one had a higher reputation for chival- 
rous bravery and a readiness to resent any intended 
affront, yet no one had a more ardent love for peace, 
or a greater desire to \i\e on terms, not only of amity, 
but of cordiality with all with whom he was brought in 
association ; and no one was more ready to act the part 
of a peacemaker, and heal misunderstandings between 
others. 

It was the esteem which Dr. Linn won from his 
brother senators by these generous, amiable, and manly 
qualities, and the rule he invariably observed, never to 
throw any obstacle in the way of any bill or measure in 
which other senators took an interest, unless compelled 
to oppose it by a sense of public duty, that enabled him 
to carry so many of his own through the Senate, and 
render such important services to his immediate con- 
stituents, and to the people of the West generally. In 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 145 

this respect, no one could be more fortunate and suc- 
cessful ; indeed, it came to be considered that almost, 
as a matter of course, whatever bill or measure Dr. 
Linn introduced, would find favor with the Senate, and 
be sure to be passed. Such is the power of courtesy, 
kindliness, and condescension in a grave, dignified, de- 
liberative body ; but, where the human heart beats witli 
the same impulses, is subject to the same passions, and 
influenced by the same motives as subject, influence, 
and control men in a less elevated sphere of life. 



CHAPTER II. 

From the commencement of the 24th Congress, Dr. 
Linn began to take a more active part in the business 
before the Senate. Nothing in which his own State 
and constituents were interested, or that concerned that 
portion of the country then denominated " the far 
West," or that which Kes west of the Mississippi river, 
escaped his notice. Identified, as he was, in interest 
and association with this interesting section of the 
Union, his home from youth to manhood, containing 
all that he most loved and cherished, his wife, children 
and friends, no wonder he looked upon it with fond 
affection, and to whatever affected its interests, pros- 
perity, security, and happiness, with filial attention and 
dutifid devotion. 

The settling the Missouri land claims, or claims to 
lands in Missouri and Arkansas, imder Spanish and 
French grants, by a law of Congress, was one of the 
important subjects which engaged his attention, and by 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 147 

whicli he rendered a very essential senice to a large 
class of worthy citizens. A Board of Commissioners 
had been appointed under the acts of July 9tb, 183.2, 
and March 2d, 1833, for the puriDOse of receiving tes- 
timony in support of these claims, and of reporting 
thereon to the government, with a view to determine 
what claims were vahd and what were otherwise. Dr. 
Linn had been a member of this Board, and the bill 
referred to was brought in for the pm^Dose of confirm- 
ing the decisions the Board had made, so that the in- 
quietude of the claimants miglit be removed, and their 
titles established by hiw. Aided by his advocacy, and 
the lucid and satisfactory cxphmations of the whole 
subject he was able to give, the biU passed the Senate. 
Another subject to which Dr. Linn gave much at- 
tention, was the putting of the Western country in a 
state of defence against the large bocUes of Indians 
tliat had been congregated west of Missom-i and those 
occupying the country nortli. Addressing the Senate 
on this subject on one occasion when Mr. Clay's land 
bill was under consideration, " he implored senators to 
look at tlie great western frontier, from the Falls of St. 
Anthony to the Gulf of Mexico, and the examination 
he was svu'e would produce feelings of sym})athy for 
the situation of the people of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mis- 
souri, and Wisconsin. The existence of the numerous 
tribes of Indians claiming to be independent within the 



148 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

States, liad shaken the Union to its centre, and at one 
time appeared to threaten a dissolution of the confed- 
eracy. To get rid of this embarrassing subject, and 
to save the Indians from destruction, their removal to 
the west bank of the Mississippi was determined on by 
the General Government, and following out this line of 
policy, tribe after tribe has been located, until the ag- 
gregate amount has become alarming to contemplate. 
These Indians were placed there for the benefit of the 
old States respectively. Have we not, then, the right, 
asked Mr. L., to demand from the justice of Congress 
all the means necessary for our defence and protection ? 
War, he said, was at all times terrible ; but a war with 
Indians doubly so. They are our hereditary enemies, 
and we may expect combinations among them. A ge- 
nius of the commanding character of Tecumseh, pos- 
sessing a mind to concoct and a hand to execute, could 
form combinations among the discordant elements that 
would set our whole border in a blaze. From the mo- 
ment the foot of the first white man touched the soil 
of this continent, a system of injustice and aggression 
commenced towards the Indians, which has been perse- 
vered in and perfected, until they find themselves on 
the confines of the great western plains, far from their 
homes and the graves of their fathers. Their hatred, 
therefore, is natural. But the laws governing popula- 
tion can no more be stayed than the tides of the ocean. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 149 

Cain slew Abel, and the farmer will ever possess power 
over the hunter or herdsman. The Indians are there- 
fore a doomed race ; treat them Mith all the kindness 
and humanity in your power, and to this melancholy 
complexion it must come at last. *«***« 

" But he found himself, he remarked, wandering from 
the subject that had induced him to obtrude himself 
on the notice of the Senate. He rose merely to state, 
that for months previous to the celebrated Black Hawk 
having crossed the Mississippi to connnence the war, 
which afterwards raged, he had despatched emissaries 
to eveiy tribe from the ^lississippi to the Sabine, with 
a view to form combinations, and holding out induce- 
ments to the different tribes, to make a simultaneous 
attack on the whole line of frontier. From informa- 
tion imparted to him, and which came from a reliable 
source, he felt justified in asserting, that if Black Hawk 
had gained a decisive battle, such an assault would 
have been made, the consecpiences of which woidd har- 
row up every feelhig of the soul. 

" ]\lr. L. looked upon such combinations among the 
Indians, as he had spoken of, more than probable, and 
should that happen, and the thirst for plunder and re- 
venge m-ge them on, they would biun, plunder, mur- 
der and destroy ; and if, at length, they met an over- 
powering force, they would fly to the boundless plains 
behind them, where they could sustain themselves on 



150 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

the countless herds of buffalo that roam over these 
plains, until such period as they might think proper to 
renew the attack. Nothing, at some future day, will 
prevent this state of things, he said, but the presence 
of a force sufficiently great to overawe the disaffected, 
and restrain the unruly. The presence of such a force 
is due to them from humanity, and to us (he spoke for 
the people of the West) from justice." 

It must be recollected, that this view of the impend- 
ing dangers to the people of the West from a terrible 
Indian war, was presented twenty years ago ; and 
though no such apprehensions can now be entertained 
from the same cause, yet that the dangers thus glow- 
ingly depicted at that time were imaginary and un- 
founded, no one at all conversant with Indian and fron- 
tier affairs will pretend. The danger of such combina- 
tions as Dr. Linn spoke of among the western tribes of 
Indians, from St. Anthony's Falls, or from our extreme 
northern boundary, to Texas, was perceived by the 
government, and provided against by raising and sta- 
tioning one or two regiments of dragoons on the western 
border, and directing them to penetrate the Indian ter- 
ritories occasionally, and let the savages see that they 
were watched, and a force was ready to meet them 
whenever they should assume any hostile attitude. 
Even within a year or two the Government have found 
it necessary to greatly increase the mihtary force sta- 



\ 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 151 

tioned along the base of the Rocky Mountains and in 
the western forts generally, to curl) the western tribes 
of Indians, and to punish their hostile acts, which has 
been done by General Harney. 

On a subsequent occasion, Mr. Benton, from the 
Committee on Military Affairs, reported, with amend- 
ments, the bill from the House of Representatives, to 
authorize the President of the United States to accept 
the services of volunteers for the defence of the fron- 
tiers, and moved that the Senate proceed to the consid- 
eration of the bill. 

Opposition being made, Mr. Linn sustained the 
motion of his colleague. He said, he could consider 
nothing more worthy of their immediate attention than 
the protection of our frontiers, threatened, as they now 
had good reason to apprehend, with the greatest dan- 
gers. He asked the Senate to look at the frontier from 
north to south, and they woidd see a vast column of 
Indians, the base of which rested on Texas, now fight- 
ing for independence, and against which the Mexicans 
were waging a war of extermination. No senator, he 
said, could turn his eye from this examination, without 
being convhiced that a train of the most inflammable 
materials is laid around our borders, ready at any mo- 
ment to have a spark applied, and light up the flame 
of war — of all others the most appalling." 

At a later period of the session, the Senate, on mo- 



152 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

tion of Mr. Benton, took up the bill to increase the 
mihtary peace establishment of the United States. Mr. 
B. having explained and advocated the bill, Mr. Clay 
opposed it, and moved to strike out the iirst section, 
which would be kilhng it, should his motion be 
adopted. 

Mr. Linn then came to the aid of his colleague, 
and opposed Mr. Clay's motion, urging, in the main, 
arguments, the substance of which has already been 
given. It would be a humane policy, he said, to the 
frontier States, to have such a force as would prevent 
the possibility of an Indian outbreak. He spoke of the 
warlike character of the Indians, the feelings of hatred 
and revenge they must necessarily indulge against the 
whites, and the facilities they had for forming combi- 
nations, Avhich demonstrated the necessity of having a 
sufficient force to overawe them. 

After further debate, in Avhich Mr. L. replied to 
Mr. Crittenden, the bill Avas passed by the Senate by 
more than three to one. 

It was at this session that a law was passed, annex- 
ing to Missouri what is called " the Platte country," 
now the most wealthy and densely settled part of the 
State, except St. Louis city and county. Dr. Linn 
took a deep interest in this measure, and exerted him- 
self to procure the passage of the act. The territory 
gained thereby is a most valuable acquisition to the 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 153 

State. By this addition, the western boundary was 
extended to, and is now the Missouri river. One of 
the objections to this measui'e was, that it woukl annex 
a large tract of country, over which, by the Missoiui 
Compromise, slavery could not be extended, to a State 
in which slaveiy existed, and by whose laws, authorizing 
the holding of slaves, it would thereafter be governed. 
The subject was referred to the Committee on the Ju- 
diciary, then composed of the following chstinguished 
gentlemen, all of whom, save one, are now living : to 
wit, John M. Clayton, James Buchanan, Benjamin 
Watkins Leigh, William C. Preston, and John J. Crit- 
tenden.* 

The committee were fidly aware that the annexa- 
tion of this countiy to the State of Missoiu-i, by ex- 
tending her western boundary to the Missouri river, 
would be a bi-each of the Missouri Compromise ; never- 
theless, as it was situated, it had become a den of 
thieves, robbers, and outlaws, subject to no law and 
the jurisdiction of no State. It was then Indian terri- 
tory, but filled with that infamous popidatioii which 



* Since this was written Mr. Clayton has passed away ; and it is no dis- 
paragement to others to say, that, as a statesman of hroad, comprehensive, and 
national views ; of a strong and highly cultivated intellect, and well stored 
mind; of ardent and patriotic devotion to his country, and zeal in promoting 
all her great interests, protecting her honor, and so elevating her character 
that she might be a light and a guide to, and command the respect and ad- 
miration of, all civilized nations, he has left no superior. Mr. Buchanan is 
now President elect of tlie United States. 



154 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

delights to escape from the restraints which law im- 
poses, to some place where they can give loose to all 
the evil passions and propensities of their degraded na- 
tm-es. To break up this nest of outlaws, who demor- 
alized the Indian population, and committed all sorts 
of depredations upon the people of Missouri, was con- 
sidered a greater good than the breach of the Missouri 
Compromise was an evil, and the committee therefore 
reported unanimously in favor of the measure ; nor did 
it meet with any serious opposition in the Senate. The 
bill became a law on the 7th June, 1836. 

During the first session of the 24th Congress, a 
large number of petitions for the abolition of slavery 
in the District of Columbia were sent to the Senate 
and House of Representatives from various parts of 
the country. The people of the North had become 
much excited on the subject, and in regard to slavery 
generally. Agitators were among them ; meetings 
were gotten up, and resolutions of the most intemper- 
ate character adopted and pubhshed ; these were scat- 
tered abroad like so many fire-brands, for the purpose 
of spreading the flame of excitement and agitation. 
The most incendiary publications were thrown in great 
profusion from abolition presses, and the mails were 
made the vehicle of scattering these among the people 
of the South, and of getting them into the hands of 
such blacks, bond or free, as coidd read. Calculated, 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 155 

and probably intended, to excite discontent among the 
slaves, if not to incite and encourage them to insurrec- 
tion against their owners, the people of the slave States 
naturally became indignant and alanued at this insidi- 
ous and unjustifiable interference in their affairs, and 
the attempt to bring about a state of things in those 
States, at which humanity must shudder with horror. 

To such an extent had this system of agitation been 
carried, and so inflamed had become the piiblic mind in 
all parts of the coimtry in consequence, that the Presi- 
dent, General Jackson, deemed it proper to make it one 
of the topics of his annual message. In speaking of 
the affairs of the General Post Office, he said : 

" I must also invite your attention to the painful 
excitement produced in the South, by attempts to cir- 
culate through the mails inflammatory appeals, ad- 
dressed to tlic passions of the slaves, in prints, and in 
various sorts of publications, calculated to stimulate 
them to insurrection, and to produce all the horrors of 
a servile war. There is, doubtless, no respectable por- 
tion of our countrymen who can be so far misled, as to 
feel any other sentiment than that of indignant regret 
at conduct so destructive of the harmonv and of the 
peace of the country, and so repugnant to the princi- 
ples of our national compact, and to the dictates of hu- 
manity and religion. Oiu" happiness and prosperity 
essentially depend upon peace within our borders — and 



156 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

p^ace depends upon the maintenance, in good faith, of 
those compromises of the constitution upon which the 
Union is founded. It is fortunate for the country that 
the good sense, the generous feehng, and the deep- 
rooted attachment of the people of the non-slavehold- 
ing States, to the Union, and to their fellow-citizens of 
the same blood in the South, have given so strong and 
impressive a tone to the sentiment entertained against 
the proceedings of the misguided persons who have 
engaged in these unconstitutional and wicked attempts, 
and especially against the emissaries from foreign parts 
who have dared to interfere in this matter, as to au- 
thorize the hope that those attempts will no longer be 
persisted in." 

Early in the session, Mr. Calhoun moved that so 
much of the President's message as relates to the 
transmission of incendiary publications by the United 
States mail be referred to a special committee. This 
was agreed to, and Dr. Linn was placed upon this com- 
mittee, which made a report, and introduced a bill to 
prohibit the circulation of such publications through 
the U. S. mail. 

This subject, and that of receiving petitions for 
abolishing slavery in the District of Colmnbia, which 
came pouring in in great numbers, became prominent 
topics of debate during the session, and of the most 
heated and inflanmiatory speeches ever hstened to in 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 157 

the Senate. One mode of treating these petitions, pro- 
posed, was to receive them, and silently refer them to 
the Committee on the District of Colnmbia, or, with- 
out debate, lay them on the table. ^Ir. Calhoun, how- 
ever, objected to their being received at all, and upon 
this question arose a protracted discussion. The tem- 
per and spirit of this debate may be inferred fi*om the 
following remarks of Mr. Preston, of S. C. 

Mr. P. said -. " When I consider the extraordinary 
excitement which lias been produced throughout the 
country ; the combustible mateiial, in the shape of in- 
cendiary pamphlets, which has been accumulated and 
spread abroad ; the vast multitudes which have assem- 
bled ; the apostles who have addressed tlicni ; their acts 
and their menaces ; though I am but little disposed to 
allude to them, yet a regard to the honor and interests 
of the South calls upon me to do so, and that, too, in 
language which she has a right to expect and demand. 

" Sir, the Southern mind has alreadv been filled 
with agitation and alai-m. '\'\\v[v property, their do- 
mestic relations, their altars, their lives, are in danger ; 
and, as if this were not sufficient, we have now these 
agitators and incendiaries calling upon Congress to act 
upon the slaveholding States, either directly or indi- 
rectly, through the medium of this District. And are 
we, sir, to sit still and see it? Are we to behold our 
rights and privileges trampled upon ? All upon which 



158 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

the permanence and security of our prosperity de- 
pend, is assailed by these blood-thirsty fanatics, and 
Government called upon to participate in the wanton 
and mahcious movement, without lifting a hand, with- 
out raising a voice, without acting as a due regard to 
the honor, dignity, and happiness of our constituents 
calls upon us to act ? " 

This exciting subject was disposed of in the Senate 
by coming to an understanding that all petitions shoidd 
be received and laid upon the table, there to remain ; 
which was much the wisest course, and least likely to 
produce and foster excitement either at the North or at 
the South. It was yielding to the petitioners the naked 
right to petition, but laying their petitions quietly on 
the table was saying to them that it was useless to 
send their inflammatory memorials to that body. 

In the House, however, a more impolitic and un- 
wise course was pm'sued. The subject was there re- 
ferred to a special committee, who reported, among 
other resolutions, the following, which was adopted, 
and out of which grew the famous 21st rule, to wit: 

" Resolved, That aU petitions, memorials, resolutions, 
propositions, or papers, relating in any way, or to any 
extent whatever, to the subject of slavery, or the aboh- 
tion of slavery, shall, without being either printed or 
referred, be laid upon the table, and that no further 
action whatever shaU be had thereon." 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 159 

That the adoption of this riile by the House, in- 
stead of pui'suing the practice of the Senate, was the 
cause of the very great increase in the number of 
petitions of this kind presented, and of increased 
agitation at the North, no one, it is presumed, now 
doubts. Dr. Linn was in favor of the course adopted 
by the Senate, rightly judghig what the effect of the 
other woidd be. The subject coming up again at the 
subsequent session, he took occasion briefly to express 
his views thereon. 

A memorial from the grand jury of Washington 
County, D. C, having been presented, protesting 
against the interference of citizens from distant States 
in respect to the abolition of slaveiy in the District of 
Columbia, a motion was made that it be laid on the 
table aiul printed. ^Ir. Calhoun then moved to print 
an extra number of copies. 

In making this motion, Mr. Calhoun said it was a 
most important paper, and there was one part of it at 
which he most heartily rejoiced. It took the true posi- 
tion — that abolition petitions should not be received. 
He further expressed himself very earnestly and warmly 
upon this subject in advocating the motion to print an 
extra number. 

"Mr. Linn said he should be pleased to know 
whether any practical benefits were likely to grow out 
of cii-culating, by order of the Senate, copies of the 



160 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

document now proposed to be printed. What, he 
asked, was the proper remedy for the evil of which the 
people of the District of Cohimbia complained, and 
concerning which they had directed the attention of 
Congress ? Was their property in danger ? Were the 
laws insufficient to protect their slaves ? If so, let us 
then march directly up to the subject, and enact such 
as wiU afford ample seciuity. Eor measures of a prac- 
tical nature, he would give his vote with a great deal 
of pleasure. He said, he was well aware that ques- 
tions of this kind came up here, and incidentally im- 
pressed persons at a distance with the idea that Con- 
gress wished to deprive them of the right to petition. 
Nothing, in his opinion, was more erroneous. Refuse 
to receive and hear an abolition petition, and you ren- 
der the abolitionist a thousand times more active and 
industrious in propagating their doctrines, and more 
successfid in enlisting the sympathies in their favor of 
those who believed in the inherent right of the people 
to assemble and petition for a redress of grievances. 
He never had voted, and never would vote, for the 
printing and disseminating an abolition memorial ; nor 
would he lend his aid for the printing of this docu- 
ment in favor of slavery. 

" On the great question of slavery, the constitution 
and laws would find ample support in the good sense 
of the great body of the American people. He gave 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 161 

it as his opinion, that to insui'e tranquillity was to let 
this exciting topic alone." 

The Ansclom of this remark, and the con-ectness of 
the views taken by Dr. L., have now been fiiUy proved. 
So long as the 21st iiile existed in the House, the peo- 
ple of the North never ceased to pour in then- abolition 
petitions ; hundi'cds, and perhaps thousands of them, 
having been offered by ]\Ir. John Q. Adams, more 
with the view to vindicate or claim the rigid ofjjetition, 
than with any desire that the prayer of the petitioners 
should be granted. But scarcely had this rule been 
abrogated, as it was at the first session of the 29th 
Congress, than these petitions almost wholly ceased ; and 
we now hear no more of them, though there are pro- 
bably some of them occasionally presented and laid 
quietly on the table. 

In the discharge of his public duties, no senator 

could be more constant in his attendance, observant of 

what was going on, watchful of the interests of the 

people of his own State, and efficient in promoting 

them. Whatever concerned Missoiu-i, or the people of 

Iowa, or Wisconsin, had a pecidiar interest for Dr. 

Linn ; and the more deeply it concerned these, the more 

ardently did he embrace and labor to accomphsh the 

object proposed. Among the subjects which seemed 

most to occupy his thoughts at this period, were the 

obtaining of grants of public lands for various pm-poses 
11 



162 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

for his State, and the protection of the western and 
northern frontiers against the hostihties of the Indians, 
to which the people of ^Missouri and Iowa were at that 
time so much exposed. The BL^ck Hawk war had 
shown what murders and depredations the Indians, if 
united in large bodies and led on by a Avan-ior of ge- 
nius and influence, might commit before a sufficient 
force to repel them could be got together and brought 
against them ; and he constantly, therefore, advocated 
the increase of the army, or the raising of some regi- 
ments of dragoons to be stationed along the frontier, 
to scour the country, overawe the savages, and prevent 
them from committing outrages upon the whites. 

At the second session of the 24th Congress, Mr. 
Benton, chairman of the Military Connuittee, brought 
in a bill to increase the military establishment of the 
United States. It being warmly opposed, chiefly by 
Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Linn took part 
in the debate in aid of his colleague. After several 
days had been spent in dicussing the bill, 

" Mr. Linn rose, and said, that it was now the settled 
pohcy of the Government to remove those remnants of 
Indian tribes who yet retained some territory within 
the States, from the positions they occupied, and to give 
them in exchange a territory west of the Mississippi ; 
thereby at once protecting the Indians from the en- 
croachments and depredations of a surrounding white 



LIFE OP DR. LINN. 163 

population, and enabling the State Governments to 
exercise iminternipted jurisdiction over the entire ex- 
tent of their own territory. It was a noble policy, 
characterized alike by wisdom and humanity. It had 
originated in the cabinet of which the Senator from 
South CaroHna had been at the time a distinguished 
member, and it woidd stand in the history of the coun- 
try a glorious and enduring monument of the enlight- 
ened views and enlarged benevolence of its authors. 
The process had commenced, and the plan was in the 
course of execution by the present administration, not- 
\vithstanding many obstacles. The Indians had been 
jemoved from many of the States, and collected in their 
respective tribes on our Western frontier. Now, Mr. 
L. woidd ask the Senator from South Carolina, and all 
those other senators who represented States that had 
formerly been burdened with an Indian population, 
whether they were not under the most solemn obliga- 
tions of justice to the States of Missouri, Louisiana, 
and Arkansas, and Temtory of Wisconsin, in whose 
immediate vicinity this large body of Indians had been 
assembled, to protect her people from the Indians, and 
to ])rotc('t the several Indian tribes from each other ? 
Now, what course of policy was it necessary to pursue, 
iu order to effectually accomplish this end ? Having 
removed these people from their native haunts, and 
brought them together under new circumstances, the 



164 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

Government was obviously under obligations to extend 
to them, so far as it should be in their power, the bless- 
ings of government, religion, and civilization ; and for 
this purpose the great and efficient means must be, to 
break up the war spirit amongst themselves. Unless 
that spirit could be put down, these warlike tribes 
would in a little time destroy each other, or cause ag- 
gression upon us. For this purpose, it was indispen- 
sable that we should have at our disposal, and ready for 
action, a respectable military force. Successive Secreta- 
ries of War, and among them the late Secretary Cass, than 
whom no man was better acquainted with the Indian 
habits and character, had estimated the force requisite 
for this object, at 7,000 men. General Jessup, in a 
communication made by him to the Government, had 
made the same estimate, and all the Indian agents who 
had been considted, concurred in the same opinion. 
The present acting Secretary of War fully agreed in it. 
They all agreed in opinion, that a permanent military 
force must be established on that frontier. When not 
engaged in military duty, they might be employed in 
constructing military roads and fortifications. Forts 
must be estabhshed at short distances from each other, 
and garrisoned by a standing body of troops, wliilst 
cavalry should be employed to move from point to 
point. To hope for any thing like permanent peace 
among a large body of Indians, under any other cir- 



LIFE OF DR. LINX. 165 

cumstances, was idle. The verv nature of the Indian 
was war ; it was the element m which he moved ; and 
he must see a force actually present, and sufficient to 
control him, or this warUke propensity could never be 
repressed. It was utterly vain to represent to these 
people the power of the United States Government. 
Nothing of the kind made any impression on the In- 
dian mind, unless accompanied by a visible demonstra- 
tion of mihtary force. 

" The Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Crittenden) had 
observed tliat the militia of the Union could defend 
themselves. It was un([Cstionably true ; but Mr. L. 
contended that this Government had no right to place 
the people of the country in such a condition that they 
must take up arras to defend themselves. It was un- 
just. No one knew better than the gentleman, at what 
cost tlie dark and bloody soil of Kentucky had been 
conquered and maintained against a savage foe. Its 
soil had been fattened by the best blood of this land — 
blood which might all have been spared, if tiie Go- 
vernment had been in circumstances to afford to those 
hardy settlers the protection of a regular mihtary force, 
but which was denied them in consequence of revolu- 
tionary struggles. Mr. L. did not want to see such 
scenes enacted in ]\Iissouri. No doubt the people of 
Missouri could subdue any Indian force which should 
mvade their soil, but it was not their place to do it. 



1G6 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

They ought not to be compellecl to work out their own 
safety. 

" Mr. L. sjDoke of the Black Hawk war and its cause ; 
also of some of the incidents attending it, as illustrating 
Indian warfare and Indian character, and asked if the 
Indian character and habits had changed ? Not at all. 
They were the same ferocious and bloodthirsty people 
they had ever been. No doubt the people of Missouri, 
after a bloody struggle, from time to time renewed, 
might subdue them. But he repeated the assertion, 
that the Government had no right to compel them into 
any such contest. It was the act of the Government 
which had congregated these Indian tribes on the fron- 
tiers of that State, and it was unjust to leave the in- 
habitants exposed to have their houses burnt, their 
farms laid waste, and their wives and children toma- 
hawked before their eyes." 

In the progress of this debate, Dr. Linn understood 
some senators, Mr. Calhomi especially, to have made 
charges against the people of Missomi, of having plun- 
dered and oppressed the Indians on their border. The 
least intimation of any thing of this kind, the slightest 
imputation cast upon the people of his State — a State 
which he loved and served with filial affection and de- 
votedness, — ^was sufficient to rouse all his feehngs, and 
call forth aU his abihty to repel the charges, and defend 
the fair fame of the State whose honor and interest had 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 167 

been in part intrasted by her to his safe-keeping. He 
was not the man to sit silent when even there was the 
least whisper of dishonor connected with the name of 
Missouri. Sans peur, sans rejjroche himself, with an 
honor as spotless as that of a Chevalier Bayard, of an 
Admirable Crichton, he felt with the keenness of a no- 
ble son, the least imputation cast upon the State of 
which he was himself an integral part, and to which he 
owed willing allegiance. As the debate was about to 
close, and the question to be taken on the passage of 
the bill, 

Mr. Linn rose to reply to these charges. He said 
he had resided permanently for twenty -six years in the 
State of Missom-i, and knew that the charge was wholly 
unfounded. There was not a man in Missouri or Wis- 
consin, who did not possess too much sense to plunder 
Indians. The people of Missouri had never robbed or 
trampled on these natives of the forest. They had 
been roi)rescnted as a poor, spiritless, downtrodden 
race, ignorant of their owti rights, and continually im- 
posed upon by the whites. Nothing could be more 
opposite to the truth. No people were keener-sighted, 
or more fidly awake to their rights and interests. No 
one could have personal intercourse with them, and not 
discover that they were shrewd in aii unusual degree, 
The Black Hawk war was to be traced entirely to the 
fraud practised by that cliief in the execution of the 



168 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

treaty. He had openly insulted General Gaines, and 
tlu'eatened his soldiers, and the General, to comply with 
the general peace-policy of the Government, bought 
him off. But he returned again the next year. Mr. 
L. claimed from this Government protection for his 
constituents. It was in vain for gentlemen to declare 
there was no danger, when 150,000 Indians had been 
collected on their frontier, and who were in reach, and 
might be in communication with 150,000 more, inhab- 
iting the vast prairies of the West. Mr. L. • here 
quoted : 

" * On these extensive plains, a new state of things 
was likely to grow up. It is to be feared that a great 
part will form a lawless interval between the abodes of 
civilized man, like the wastes of the ocean and the des- 
erts of Arabia ; and, like them, be subject to the depre- 
dations of the marauder. Here may spring up new 
and mongrel races, like new formations in geology, the 
amalgamation of the " debris " and abrasions of former 
races, civilized and savage ; the remains of broken and 
almost extinguished tribes ; the descendants of wan- 
dering hunters and trappers ; of fugitives from the 
Spanish and American frontiers ; of adventiu*ers and 
desperadoes of every class and country, yearly ejected 
from the bosom of society into the wilderness. We 
are contributing incessantly to swell its singidar and 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 169 

heterogeneous cloud of wild population, that is to hang 
about our frontier, by the transfer of whole tribes of 
savages from the east of the Mississippi to the great 
wastes of the far West. Many of these bear with 
them the smart of real or fancied injuries ; many con- 
sider themselves expatriated beings, wrongfully exiled 
from their hereditary homes and the sepulchres of their 
fathers, and cherish a deep and abiding animosity 
against the race that has dispossessed them. Some 
may gradually become pastoral hordes, like those rude 
and migratory people (half shepherd, half waiTior) who, 
with their flocks and herds, roam the plains of Upper 
Asia ; but others, it is to be apprehended, will become 
predatory bands, mounted on fleet steeds of the prairies, 
with the open plains for their marauding groundff, and 
the mountains for their retreats and liu-king-places. 
Here they may resemble those great hordes of the 
North, " Gog and Magog, with their bands," that haunt- 
ed the gloomy imaginations of the Prophets. " A great 
company and mighty host, all riding upon horses, and 
warring upon those nations which were at rest, and 
dwelt peaceably, and had gotten cattle and goods." ' 

The way to prevent the existence of this state of 
things, Mr. L. said, was to civilize the Indians. This 
was a noble design, and, properly pursued, would suc- 
ceed ; but never, until the warlike habits of the In- 



170 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

dians were broken, and they were converted into agri- 
culturists. So long as they should be left unawed by 
a militaiy force, and at liberty to butcher each other, 
the benevolent design intended in their removal could 
never be acomplished. 

" Mr. L. said he had travelled through the Indian 
settlements near Fort Leavenworth, and he had found 
fields cultivated, houses built, school-houses erected, 
workshops opened, the loom going, young Indian boys, 
from sixteen to eighteen years old, learning the me- 
chanic arts, and some of them as good workmen as 
could be found any where. Here the Indians were per- 
fectly peaceable ; and, beholding the controlling force 
in their presence, had abandoned their warlike habits, 
and Were beginning to cultivate the arts of peace. Let 
but this system be carried out, and the same results 
woidd follow throughout the Indian country. Was it 
not worth an experiment ? Did we not owe it to these 
people thus to secure to them a fair start in the course 
of civilization ? This once secured, their progress 
would afterwards be certain. Only keep down the 
tomahawk for a few years, and interest and experience 
would convince these people of the advantages of peace 
and civilization. But leave them to their own savag-e 
nation, refuse to the white settlers any mihtary defence, 
and these Indians, whenever their resentments should 
be awakened, could at any time make an irruption into 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 171 

our settlements, burn, scalp, slay and butcher, witliout 
mercy, and then retreat to then- swamps and deserts 
before any force could be collected to resist them. It 
required no spirit of prophecy to foretell, with great 
certainty, the recmTcnce of scenes of this character on 
our frontiers, if the Government should neglect to erect 
forts, and, after they were erected, should be vmable or 
unwilling to garrison them. And when the blood of 
helpless women and children had thus been shed, woidd 
not those senators feel bitter remorse, who, by opposing 
a measure so necessary and so salutary as that now be- 
fore the Senate, had, to a certain extent, made them- 
selves sharers in that blood? 

" Mr. L. had repeatedly heard it said, that Missomi 
would find ample compensation, in the vast expenditm'c 
of public money on her borders, for the evils that might 
grow out of the congregation of such fiery and dis- 
cordant tribes of Indians on her borders. She wanted 
wealth from no such sources. The God of nature had 
been most bountiful to lier; and all her population ear- 
nestly desired, was to be left in peace to cidtivate the 
blessings so lavishly showered upon them. Washed on 
the east by ' the Father of Waters,' some of whose 
tributaries inosculate with the silver lakes of the north ; 
divided into nearly equal parts by the mighty Missouri 
river, whose sources lie liid in the recesses and caves of 
the Rocky INIountains, where silence loves to keep her 



172 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

long millennium of mibroken repose ; a rich virgin soil, 
mountains pregnant with mineral wealth; extensive 
plains and noble forests — much reason has she for re- 
joicing, but let her rejoice wdth modesty." 

Mr. Calhoim remarked, that the Senator from Mis- 
souri had represented the Indians in his neighborhood 
as far advanced in civilization, yet was demanding 
troops to protect his constituents against their ravages. 

Mr. Linn explained : " What he had said about 
advanced civilization, referred not to the body of In- 
dians on the frontiers generally, but to those only wdio 
were in the vicinity of Fort Leavenworth ; and his argu- 
ment had been, that, if similar forts should be distrib- 
uted at short distances along our frontier, the same 
effects might be hoped for on a Avider scale." 

The bill then passed the Senate, 26 to 13. 

No one will doubt that Dr. Linn looked forward 
with fearfid apprehension to the consecpiences that 
might residt from the gathering together of such great 
numbers of Indians upon the western borders of Mis- 
soiu'i, and their banding, as he was fearful they woidd, 
with the ferocious and warhke tribes of the plains and 
the Rocky Mountains. His fears have not been fully 
realized, fortunately ; but the Government has prevented 
their being so, at least in part, by keeping an active 
and vigilant military force in the plains, and estabhsh- 
ing and garrisoning forts in the heart of the Indian 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 173 

country. The acquisition of California and New jMex- 
ico, and the rapid increase of the emigrants to these 
coimtries as well as to Oregon ; the increase also of the 
trade to Santa Ye, New jNlexico, as well as the hostile 
demonstrations of some of the Indians, and the mur- 
ders and depredations continually committed by others, 
rendered such a measui'e incUspensable to the safety of 
persons and the protection of property on the fi'ontiers 
and in the Indian coimtry. But in spite of this mili- 
tary force, many mm'ders have been annually connuit- 
ted, and much property stolen and destroyed. A con- 
tinued war has existed with some of these fierce and 
warlike tribes occupying a part of Texas, New Mexico, 
and Utah, and the hostile demonstrations of other more 
northern tribes has rendered it necessary for the Gov- 
ernment to throw at once and with all speed, an effec- 
tive force into their country, and to attack and disperse 
them. 

But for these vigorous measures, the necessity of 
which was eloquently and forcil)ly m-ged by Dr. Linn, 
no one can doubt but that all the horrors of an Indian 
war, and an Indian raid upon the unprotected white 
settlements exposed to their incursions, so graphically 
and truthfully depicted by him, would have been real- 
ized. Well he knew, that nothing Ijut force and fear 
would restrain them from indulging their natm-al blood- 
thu-sty disposition ; and that, to produce fear, the force 



174 LIFE OF DR LINN. 

must be present or visible, and be sufficient to inspire 
them with awe. He knew the Indian character most 
thoroughly ; and that he could never be civihzed, so 
long as he was permitted to carry and use his toma- 
hawk and rifle ; that he could never be Christianized 
until he had become domiciled, and had learned to de- 
pend upon the earth for his sustenance, rather than 
upon robbery and the chase. ' The only mode of civil- 
izing savages is by teaching them to cultivate the earth ; 
to raise flocks and herds, and to confine themselves to 
the spot they cultivate, instead of roaming about. And 
it is the veriest waste of effort, time, and expense, to 
attempt to Christianize them, until they have acquired 
agricultural habits. The hunter has no Sabbath, and 
no church, save that not made with hands, and covered 
by the canopy of heaven. He may have renounced his 
false gods, and professed his behef in the true God and 
His Son Jesus Christ, and may have done so sincerely ; 
but let him go afterwards into the woods or prairies to 
hunt, and meet with bad luck, and he will at once 
attribute it to the anger of his object of worship, what- 
ever that be, and will take such means as his ignorance 
and superstition prompt, to appease the anger of his 
god and propitiate his favor. Wliat then becomes of 
his Christianity ? It is gone. Should it chance, then, 
that this son of the forest, immediately after, or during 
the day, was lucky enough to discover and capture a 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 175 

deer, buffalo, moose, elk, or other game, would he not 
attribute his change of fortune to his having discarded 
his new religion, and sacrificed to the spirit to which he 
and his fathers had always paid homage ? Undoubt- 
edly such would be his conclusion. 

The condition of the Indian population in the vicin- 
ity of Fort Leavenworth, as described by Dr. Linn, is 
the condition in wliich they are almost invariably found 
when compelled to rely upon the productions of the 
earth for subsistence, are prevented from leading a 
roaming, vagabond life, are taught how to cultivate the 
soil, furnished at first with agricultural im})lcments, and 
have wdth them white men to teach them various me- 
chanic arts, and to make and repan- their agricultural 
tools. Without this aid, instruction, and encourage- 
ment, they are unable to surmount the first difficulties 
of their new mode of life ; become discouraged and 
disheartened ; \\ill not apply themselves to labor, resort 
to drink, i)ctty thefts, and vagabondism, and drag out 
a miserable existence, constantlv diminishing in num- 
bers, until what was once a powerful, warlike tribe, ter- 
rible in its numbers and ferociousness, is dwindled 
down to half a dozen families of miserable, ragged, 
half-starved, wandering beggars and pilferers, more like 
gypsies in their appearance and habits, than the well- 
formed, dauntless, bloodthirtsv red men with whom 
our ancestors had so often to grapple in deadly conflict, 



176 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

from whom these miserable remnants descended. If 
om' Government would prevent the red men from being 
swept away entirely, and becoming an extinct race, it 
must be by teaching them the arts of civilization, and 
compelling them to draw their subsistence from the 
bosom of mother earth. They must be taught to de- 
pend upon the products of their own labor, and to re- 
spect the property of others ; to learn the law of meum 
and ilium, the foundation of all civilization. Wherever 
this has been done under the auspices of the Federal 
Government, it has been attended with the most grati- 
fying results. By no other process or system can the 
red man be civilized, and saved from the doom that 
seems to threaten him. 

AVith this, the 24th Congress, closed the eight 
years' administration of Gen. Jackson, of whom Dr. 
Linn was a most ardent and devoted personal and po- 
litical friend. Warm in his temperament, sincere in 
his attachments, giving his whole heart where he gave 
his confidence, brave and chivalrous himself, and an 
admirer of heroic courage and noble daring in others, 
it is not surprising that Dr. Linn should have felt that 
almost filial attachment and veneration for the Hero 
and the Chief Magistrate, which all knew him to feel, 
and which the latter so warmly reciprocated. Li his 
speech on the bill to indemnify General Jackson for the 
fine imposed upon him at New Orleans in 1815, made 



LIFE or DR. LINN. 177 

several years after this, he gave utterance to his feelings 
towards him in the folloA^ing language : "I would 
have avoided," lie said, " if possible, saying any thing in 
reference to the deeds of General Jackson ; neither do 
I wish to point the Senate to the halo with which those 
deeds have surrounded his venerable head, and illumi- 
nated his countrv. My voice will not be heard in 
utterance of his praise, to induce senators to support 
the bill which they are now considering. Nor is it ne- 
cessary ; for even those who have opposed obstacles to 
its passage, have admitted his just claim to honor and 
fame, and the gratitude of his countrymen. * His 
actions proclaim for themselves their enduring fame ; 
gratitude has stamped them upon our memories ; and 
the true and steady hand of History will grave them 
deeply upon her imperishable tablets. His good name 
cannot now be sulHed -, it is placed in the scroll which 
contains the list of those whom freemen and patriots 
delight to honor. His reputation, like a star, far above 
the clouds of detraction wliich float around our censo- 
rious world, will shine witli ])righter radiance as the 
flight of time shall hallow his memoiy. * « * « 
His country has manifested its confidence in his up- 
rightness, by bestowing upon him the highest office in 
the gift of the people — and that confidence they have 
never had cause to repent. His history shoidd be- 
come familiar to the youth of our land ; it furnishes 
12 



178 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

one of the best examples by which to shape theu' course 
as citizens of the Repubhc ; and presents, in the most 
prominent manner, that great reward which is extended 
to honesty of pm'pose, disinterested love of country? 
and persevering efforts to promote its welfare — a re- 
ward greater than that which has ever been given by 
any other country to any man for like virtues." 

The esteem in which Dr. Linn was held by General 
Jackson, will be seen by his letters both to the Doctor 
and to Mrs. Linn, given in a subsequent part of this 
volume. Love and esteem were never unreciprocated 
by him, but ever touched a responsive chord in his 
waiin and manly heart. They parted at Washington, 
on General Jackson's leaving that city for the Hermi- 
tage, never to meet again. 

v., • 



CHAPTER III. 

On the 4tli of March, 1837, General Jackson bade 
adieu to pii})hc life, and was succeeded in the Presiden- 
tial office, which he had filled for eight years, — the last 
who held the office for two terms, — by Mr. Van Buren. 
The commencement of Mr. Van Buren 's term A^as siff- 
nalized by an extraordinary revulsion in the monetary 
affiiirs of tlie country. On the 7th of May, the Banks 
in Pliiladelpliia stopped specie payments, and the mon- 
eyed institutions in almost all parts of the country im- 
mediately followed their example. A universal alarni 
was felt ; a connnercial crisis of a most serious charac- 
ter followed, and deranged and depressed all kinds of 
business for an unusual penod. Such was the condi- 
tion of the countiy, that the President deemed it ad- 
visable to call an extra session of Congress in Septem- 
ber ; but this seemed rather to increase the general 
" hard times," instead of relieving them. Mr. Linn 
took a lively interest in all these public matters, but as 



180 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

he did not participate prominently in the debates which 
took place at the extra and subsequent session, I deem 
it proper to pass these over without entering into a cir- 
cumstantial account of them. Other subjects not of a 
party character, chiefly occupied his attention ; and 
among these was the introduction and promotion of the 
growth of tropical and fibrous plants in Florida. His 
friend, Dr. Perrine, who had been U. S. Consul at 
Campeachy, where he had had favorable opportunities of 
becoming acquainted with the nature, value, mode of 
cultivation, &c., of the plants proposed to be introduced 
into Florida, had devoted himself zealously to this sub- 
ject, and had become persuaded that he might render 
his country an important service by introducing and 
cultivating these plants in the United States ; he had 
also induced Dr. Linn to lend his aid in accomplishing 
the important and patriotic object, convinced, as the 
latter was, that the plan was eminently practical, and 
that results of the most important and beneficial char- 
acter would follow its execution. 

Accordingly, Dr. Linn introduced a bill at the 
second session of the 25tli Congress, " to encourage the 
introduction and promote the cultivation and growth of 
tropical plants," and in a few days thereafter he made 
a report upon the subject, which attracted much at- 
tention, especially at the South. The report was 
fomided upon a memorial presented to the Senate by 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 181 

Dr. Perrine, which was referred to the Committee on 
Agriculture. The committee, through Dr. Linn, say 
that, " In obedience to the Treasniy Circidar of the 
6th of September, 1827, Dr. Henry Perrine appears to 
be the only American Consul who has perseveringly 
devoted his head, heart and hands to the subject of 
introducing tropical plants in the United States ; and 
his voluminous manuscripts alone exhibit a great 
amount of labor and research which promise to be 
highly beneficial to our common country. The memo- 
rialist founds his hopes of final success for the inune- 
diatc propagation, and sidjsequent cultivation of tropical 
plants in Florida, on four leading facts -. 1 . Many 
valuable vegetables of the tropics do actually propagate 
themselves in the worst soils and situations, in the sun 
and in the shade of every tropical region, Avhere a sin- 
gle plant arrives by accident or design. 2. For other 
profitable plants of the tropics which require human 
skill or care, moisture is equivalent to manure, for trop- 
ical cultivation essentially consists in appropriate irriga- 
tion. 3. A tropical climate extends into Southern 
Florida, so peculiarly favorable to human health and 
vegetable growth, that the fertility and benignity of its 
atmosphere Avill counterbalance the sterility and malig- 
nity of its soil. 4. The inundated marshes and miry 
swamps of the interior of Southern Florida arc more 
elevated than the arid sands and untillable rocks on 



J 82 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

the coast ; and hence the same canals which may drain 
the former will irrigate the latter, and afford the appro- 
priate proportion of moisture for both. The memo- 
rialist fomids his hopes of success for the gradual accli- 
mation of many profitable plants of the tropics, 
throughout at least all om* southern and southwestern 
States, on, 1 st, the general history of all tropical plants, 
whose cultivation has been gradually extended towards 
the poles ; 2d, the particular history of our great sta- 
ples of the south and southwest, viz., tropical rice, 
tobacco, cotton, and sugar ; and 3d, the important fact 
that kindred species of many profitable plants, which 
will be still more important objects of agriculture, are 
indigenous to our worst soils between the Potomac and 
theMississippi, viz., of Agava and Yucca. * * * * 
In relation to the immediate propagation of tropical 
plants in tropical Florida, on the most arid, the most 
humid, and hitherto most worthless soils, the commit- 
tee expressed their conviction and belief from the facts 
and statements presented to them: and they fm'ther 
expressed their confidence in the possibility of accli- 
mating at least the fibrous-leaved plants, whose folia- 
ceous fibres are superior substitutes for flax and hemp. 
" Hitherto," say the committee, " Southern Morida has 
been considered so sickly and so sterile, as to be un- 
worthy the expense and trouble of surveying and of 
sale : and even now it is seriouslv contended that this 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 183 

section of tlie territory is iminliabitable by the white 
man, and should therefore be abandoned to the savages 
and runaway negroes from the neighboring States. 
» « * * -;s * g^^j. If ^]jg suggestions of the 

memoriahst, and if his experiments shouhl be success- 
ful, the arid sands and arid rocks, and mangrove thick- 
ets of the coast, the miry marshes, pestilential swamps, 
and impenetrable morasses of the interior, may all, ulti- 
mately, be covered by a dense population of small cul- 
tivators and of family manufacturers ; and tropical 
Florida will thus form a well-garrisoned bulwark against 
invasion in every shape and shade. * * ■55- * * 
By the introduction of such new staples as can be 
propagated on the worst soils of the old States more 
profitably than their old staples can be cultivated on 
the best soils of the new States, emigration from the 
South will be prevented, and even the ruined fields and 
barren wastes will become covered with a dense popu- 
lation of small cidtivators ; and that rm-al population 
may be tripled b}- tlie employment of new staples in 
the really domestic manufactm-es of their forms, fami- 
Ues, and females. At all events, the numerous small 
cultivators of the South would thus be enabled to fur- 
nish the cheapest possible new materials for the numer- 
ous small manufacturers of the North, and woidd licnce 
create, mutually, a ])r()fitablc and harmonious depend- 
ence on each other, of the great pacific masses of pop- 



184 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

Illation in both sections of the Union. With these 
views of the national importance of the enterprise 
of Dr. Perrine, the committee determined to report a 
bill of such a character as would, in their opinion, offer 
barely a sufficient inducement for him to undertake the 
experiment proposed by him, of introducing certain 
fibrous plants into Florida, and attempting their culti- 
vation. 

" In other countries," the committee remark, " an 
undertaking of such magnitude is the especial duty of 
the Government ; but in the United States, we are in- 
debted to individual zeal and perseverance for the 
origin and prosecution of the grandest plans of national 
utihty." 

" From the specimens of fibrous-leaved plants and 
foliaceous fibres submitted to the committee," they ex- 
pressed their confident belief, that "if they could be 
propagated in Southern Florida, of which they had no 
reasonable doubt, they will form highly important addi- 
tions to the agriculture, manufactures, and commerce of 
the Union." 

This report was accompanied by a large mass of 
manuscripts prepared by Dr. Perrine, giving the his- 
tory, mode of cultivation, botanical character, the kinds 
of soil, climate, &c., &c., necessary for the growth and 
successful propagation of the various kinds of plants 
proposed to be introduced into Southern Florida, which 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 185 

information the Doctor had spent many laborious years 
in acquuing, and which was not hkely to l)e under- 
rated by Dr. Linn. If Dr. Perrine's hopes were well 
founded, and not too sanguine, if his plan could be 
carried into practical operation, a service would be ren- 
dered to his country of incalculable value. Doctor 
Linn saw this, and coidd perceive no insurmountable 
obstacle in the way of the realization of Dr. P.'s most 
sanguine hopes. He himself Avas moved by an ardent 
and patriotic desire to secure so great a benefit to his 
country, to add new and valuable staples to her pro- 
ductions, to increase her domestic manufactures, and to 
convert arid sands and rocks, miry swamps and quag- 
mires, drowned lands, and almost impenetrable morasses, 
into fruitful, healthful, smiling fields and densely settled 
plantations. 

The object was worthy the attention, ambition, and 
labor of a patriot statesman : it was to make a thousand 
blades of grass grow where none grew before ; to con- 
vert sterility into productiveness ; a desolate waste into 
blooming fields, and pestilential swamps into healthfid 
habitations. What higher or more noble motive could 
actuate or stimulate a patriotic heart ? What Ameri- 
can will not deeply lament that, after spending years 
of toil, anxiety, apprehension and suspense, in endeav- 
oring to attain his great object, and wish of his heart, 
Dr. Perrine should have fallen a victim to savasre fero- 



186 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

city, as he was about to prove the feasibility of his un- 
dertaking and the justness of his conchisions. But the 
importance of his hfe and labors could not stay the 
hand of the murderous savage, and he was cut down 
by those who regard neither age, sex nor condition. 
The Indians saw in him only an intruder into their 
country ; they looked upon him as one of the nation 
with whom they were at war, and whose blood it de- 
hghted them to shed. With these feelings of hatred 
and revenge, the bullet was sped, and his eartlily labors 
were closed. 

Dr. Perrine having been thus cut off in the midst 
of his career of usefulness, and when, as he confidently 
believed, he was about to reap the reward of his many 
years of toil, anxiety, and perseverance, and enjoy the 
fruition of liis hopes, there was no one to carry on his 
great work, which was therefore arrested at the point 
to which he had brought it. He had connnenced the 
cultivation of some of the plants he designed to intro- 
duce into Plorida, and to culti^'ate, but they were left 
unattended to or cared for ; one of them at least, how- 
ever, the Agave Americana, found a genial soil and cli- 
mate, in which it now grows with great vigor and lux- 
uriance, and may some day become a source of agri- 
cultural and manufacturing profit to the people of that 
section ; indeed, it would be so now but that, on ac- 
count of the great cheapness of labor in Venezuela and 



LIFE or DR. LINK. 187 

other tropical American coimtries from whence the plant 
was brought by Dr. Perrine, it can be raised and man- 
ufactured into sissal hemp at a less cost than it can be 
at this time in Florida. 

There were those who doubted the feasibility of suc- 
cessfully transferring the plants proposed to be intro- 
duced and cultivated in Florida by Dr. Perrine, and of 
making them profitable productions. Dr. P., however, 
had confidence in the undertaking, and saw in its suc- 
cess a valuable acquisition to the agricultural and man- 
ufacturing resources of his country. Should the ex- 
periment succeed, he would have rendered his country 
a most important and lasting sei*vice, that of tm'uing 
arid sands and rocks, and pestilential fens and morasses, 
into blooming, healthful, and profitable fields. But 
suppose the experiment should fail? he alone would 
suffer pecuniarily ; he alone woidd feel the mortification 
attendant upon the disappointment; the country would 
have suffered no detriment. He possessed, however, 
that ardent, sanguine temperament, that confidence in 
his own judgment, and tliat perseverance in whatever 
he undertook, which were calculated to insure success, 
and without which no great entei-prise, no important 
national work was ever achieved. In Dr. Linn, he 
fomid a genial spirit, and a friend who wannly sympa- 
thized with him, became convinced of the feasibility of 
his enterprise, and lent him his aid in every possible 



188 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

way he coiild, to enable liim to accomplish his patriotic 
purpose. 

Like Dr. Perrine's undertaking, the introduction 
and cultivation of cotton, sugar, wheat, and various 
other valuable plants, not indigenous to the country, was 
an experiment ; so also was the introduction and groAvth 
of the silkworm, and the production of silk, from China 
or the East Indies, first into Italy, and subsequently 
into France and other European countries. It is the 
enterprising and sanguiue spirits of the country, like 
Dr. Perrine, who take the lead in making such experi- 
ments, and who, in case of success, become public ben- 
efactors ; who confer immense and perpetual benefits 
and blessings upon their country, without the sacrifice 
of human hecatombs, and the drenching her soil in the 
blood of her own or any other people ; and in view of 
this, we may well say, that peace has her victories and 
triumphs as well as war. Had Dr. Penine's life been 
spared to carry forward his experiment to a successful 
issue, as we can hardly doubt would have been the re- 
sult of his labors, it is not easy to estimate the benefits 
that would have accrued to the southern portion of 
Florida, and the addition that would have been made 
to our staple productions and profitable industrial pur- 
suits. 

Dr. Linn heard with deep and sincere regret of the 
fate that had befallen his friend, and put a stop to the 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 189 

enterprise in which he felt so Uvely an interest ; but he 
was not destined long to sunive him, and was, like his 
friend, destined to fall in the midst of his usefulness, 
and in the prime of manhood. 

One great object Dr. Linn hoped would be accom- 
plished by promoting the entei-prise of Dr. Perrine, was 
the draining of the fens, swamps, and morasses of Flor- 
ida, and converting them from pestilential, uninhabit- 
able regions, into the smiling and healthful abodes of 
a numerous and industrious population. The same de- 
sire to confer blessings and benefits upon liis fellow- 
citizens, prompted him to make an early proposition, 
that the Federal Government should convey the lands 
in Missomi and Arkansas, entirely and partially covered 
every year with water to such an extent as to render 
them not only untillable in their present condition, but 
wholly uninhabitable on account of their pestilential 
character, to those States, upon condition of their being 
di'ained, and rendered caj)able of being cultivated. 

Dr. Linn, in pursuance of notice given, introduced, 
on leave, on the 21st of Feb., 1838, a bill to encourage 
and promote the introduction and cultivation of tropical 
plants in Florida, of which I have spoken, and on the 
same day he proposed that the Committee on Public 
Lands be instructed to report a bill granting to the 
States all the unsurveyed lands withhi then- hmits cov- 
ered Avith water. 



190 LIFE OP DR. LINN. 

It Avas well known, he said, that large portions of 
land in some of the States were at times covered Avith 
water to an immense extent, which the Government 
officers had reported as not worth the cost of survey. 
If these lands were ceded to the States in which they 
lie, it might be attended with the most beneficial re- 
sults. Those inundated lands were a curse to the 
States ; they were the very hot-beds of disease, gene- 
rating that dreadful malaria so fatal in its influence 
upon the surrounding country. If all such were given 
to the States, at least such as were deemed unworthy 
the cost of survey, they might be reclaimed, so as to 
prevent the ill effects usually arising from them. 

Upon some objection being made to this propo- 
sition, Dr. Linn further and warmly advocated it as 
wise and salutary. The lands might be drained and 
improved by the States, or by individuals or companies 
under State regulations, but they never Avould be, so 
long as they belonged to the General Government ; 
and as they were returned by the officers of the United 
States not worth the cost of surveying them, Congress, 
in giving them to the States in which they lie, would be 
bestowing very little indeed. 

The subject having been laid on the table, nothing 
resulted from Dr. L.'s proposition at this time. But 
the minds of senators had been called to it ; a com- 
mencement had been made, the seed had been dropped. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 191 

and ere long it was destined to spring up and bear fruit. 
A few years after, but not while Dr. L. was living, a 
bill passed both Houses, and became a law, by which 
the drowned, inundated, or swamp lands were ceded to 
the States respectively in which they were situated ; a 
measure which, though somewhat abused, has been and 
is likely to be productive of incalcidable benefit to these 
States. Though Dr. Lhni did not live to accomplish 
this benevolent and wise measure, yet he is entitled to 
honor and praise for having brought it forward and ad- 
vocated its adoption from those States in which these 
lands are situated. 

The subject of the purchase of Mount Vernon hav- 
ing been much discussed within a few years past, and 
being one that now occupies the public mind, and will 
continue to do so, probably, untO the pro})erty shall 
come into possession of the United States, or the State 
of Virginia, it is due to the memory of Dr. Linn to 
note that, on the 4th of January, 1838, he oft'ercd a 
resolution in the Senate, which was adopted, " that the 
Conunittee on Public Lands inquire into the expedi- 
ency of purchasing the Mount Vernon property, now 
belonging to the family of President Washington, for 
the Government of the United States." 

Dr. Linn was desirous of seeing the consecrated 
spot, where rested all that was mortal of the illustrious 
Father of his Countiy, — of him whose fame is iniper- 



192 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

ishable, — ^in the possession of that country in whose 
glorious diadem the name of Washington is the bright- 
est star. He was anxious that Mount Vernon should 
become the Mecca of the Western world, and that it 
should be improved, beautified, and adorned in a man- 
ner befitting the resting-place of the most illustrious man 
the world had produced. He considered the fame of 
the great men and eminent patriots to whom we are 
indebted for our national existence, for the freedom and 
independence which they won and bequeathed to us, 
for the noble constitution, which, amidst trying diffi- 
culties, they formed, adopted, and estabhshed, as the 
choicest and most hallowed property of the nation ; and 
in proportion as we venerate the mighty spirits who 
have passed away, leaving to us the great benefits of 
their wisdom and patriotic labors, and cherish, and 
teach our children to cherish and revere their memories, 
in that proportion shall we love our country, and value 
the inestimable birthright privileges and blessings for 
which we are indebted to them. 

It was for this reason that he desired to make 
Mount Vernon, — ^hallowed as the residence and as the 
depository of the remains of George Washington, — 
the place of resort of all who should be in its vicinity. 
That the dwelling should be preserved as it was, in all 
its unpretending simplicity, when occupied by him to 
whom the great and the good of the whole civilized 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 193 

world paid the homage of their profound respect aud 
admiration, and when it received the most iUustrious as 
its guests. 

If the purchase, adornment, and sanctification of 
the home of Washington could more lar<z;clv infuse 
into the hearts of the American people the great prin- 
ciples which guided his action in public and private 
life ; if it could be the means of inducing them to study 
more carefully and profoundly the maxims and precepts 
which he taught them, the example he set them, the 
great legacy of wisdom and advice he left them in his 
Farewell Address, if it could cause them to " lay up his 
words in tlieir hearts, and in their soids, and bind them 
for a sign upon their hands, and teach them to their 
children, speaking of them when sitting in their houses, 
and when walking by the way, when lying down and 
when rising up — to write them upon the door-posts 
of their houses and upon their gates," ■^'' and inspire 
them witli a more animating veneration for his cha- 
racter, wisdom, and example, — if, in short, it coidd 
convert that dead reverence which all profess to feel 
for his great, noble, and patriotic traits of character, 
into a living, active, abiding, and animating feeling, 
no amount of money, however great, would be ill-spent 
thereon. 

But while all pay lip-homage to the wisdom and 

* Deuteronomy xi. 18, 19, 20. 
11 



194 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

patriotism of the Tatlier of his Country, how few pub- 
lic men are animated by his desire to promote the wel- 
fare of his coimtry, regardless of his own private inter- 
ests, and follow in the paths which he labored so 
anxiously and earnestly to make smooth and plain for 
all who should come after him. 



CHAPTER IV. 

One of the subjects wliicli Dr. Linn took an early, deep 
and lively interest in, was the exclusion of the British 
from Oregon, and its exclusive occupation by the Unit- 
ed States. He had a high appreciation of that coun- 
try, in an agricultural and commercial point of view, 
and being well satisfied of the soundness of the title of 
the United States, was unwilling she shoidd be even 
partially dispossessed of it, or share her possession with 
a country having no title there whatever. 

On the 7tli of February, 1838, Mr. Linn, on leave, 
introduced a bill authorizing the occupation of the Co- 
lumbia or Oregon river, [establishing a territory north 
of latitiule 42 degrees, and west of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, to be called the Oregon Territory ; authorizing 
the establishment of a fort on that river, and the occu- 
pation of the country by the military force of the Unit- 
ed States ; establishing a port of entry, and recpiiring 
that the country should then be held subject to the rev- 



196 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

enue laws of the United States ; with an appropriation 
of $50,000.] 

The bill having been read twice, Mr. Linn moved 
to refer it to the Committee on Military Affairs. He 
expressed his regret that some other senator had not 
moved in this matter ; he had failed in his endeavor to 
that effect, and had in consequence now presented the 
subject himself as one of great importance. There was 
reason to apprehend, that if this Territory should be 
neglected, in the course of five years it w^ould pass from 
our possession. 

Mr. Clay, of Ky., said he thought the Senator and 
the committee w^ould do well to make inquiries as to 
the stipulations of the present treaty w^ith Great Bri- 
tain, and whether we could occupy this country now 
without giving cause of offence. The country had been 
taken possession of by Great Britain, in contravention 
of the treaty of Ghent. There was a clause in that 
treaty, or rather a word, which was intended to cover 
this identical case, connected with the Oregon, and 
which covered no other case. It was founded on these 
circumstances : a settlement had been made on the 
Oregon by Mr. Astor, and the estabhshment was called 
Astoria. During the war, it was taken possession of 
by a British armed vessel. In the stipulation of mu- 
tual surrender by the two countries of places taken 
during the war, Mr. C. had introduced the word "jjos- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 197 

session" as descriptive of the hold which we had on the 
Oregon country prior to the war. Mr. C. hoped the 
treaty would be examined before any decisive step 
should be taken on the subject. 

Mr. Linn said he was aware of that provision, and 
it was his intention that the inquiry shoidd be made. 
He designed to get all the information he could on the 
subject, and lay it before the committee or the Senate, 
that the Senate might make such modifications of the 
bill as they should think proper. He desired the bill 
to be made as perfect as it coidd be. 

Mr. Lyon, of jMichigan, said he knew one of his 
constituents who was desirous of going Avcst of the 
Rocky Mountains, for the purpose of settling and carry- 
ing on a farm there. 

Mr. Buchanan said, he was very glad the Senator 
from Missouri had moved in this business ; and he had 
done himself injustice, when he said it might have been 
moved more ap})ropriately by another person. The 
time had come when we ought to assert our right to 
the Oregon country, or abandon it for ever. We know, 
by information received from an agent of the Govern- 
ment, that the Hudson Bay Company are establishing 
forts in that quarter, cutting down the timber, and con- 
veying it to market, and acquiring the allegiance of the 
Indian tribes ; and while they had been thus proceed- 
ing, we had patiently looked on dm-mg a long period 



198 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

of years. Our right ought to be now asserted ; but it 
should be done in a prudent and deUcate manner. We 
were obhged by the treaty to give a year's notice. The 
time had arrived to settle the question, and there were 
too many such questions unsettled with the British 
Government already. While we shoidd be careful to 
violate no treaty stipulations, we ought promptly to 
assert our right to this country. 

Mr. Benton urged the propriety of having this 
subject referred to a select committee, of which his col- 
league should be the chairman ; he knew of no one 
better qualified. 

Mr. Linn, after some demurring, assented, mth- 
drew his motion of reference to the Military Commit- 
tee, and the subject was referred to a select committee 
of five, consisting of Mr. Linn, Mr. Preston, Mr. 
Walker, Mr. Pierce, and Mr. Wall. 

Shortlv after, with the view to obtain all the infor- 
mation upon this subject within his reach, Mr. Linn 
submitted a resolution, which was adopted, that the 
Secretary of War be requested to send to the Senate 
all the information in the possession of this Department 
which may relate to the Oregon Territory ; and also 
that he cause to be made for the use of the Senate, a 
map embracing recent discoveries of all the country 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 199 

claimed by the United States in the western slope of 
the Rocky Mountains, to the Pacific Ocean. 

Having taken the lead in this important matter, 
and being placed at the head of the select committee 
to whom the subject was referred, Dr. Linn set himself 
to work to obtain all the information in his power, and 
to embody it in a report to the Senate. The prepara- 
tion of this report required some months, and it was 
presented to the Senate on the 6th of June ; and as it 
was a work of much labor, and embodies much inter- 
esting information in regard to that country, I have 
deemed it proper to make some extracts from it, which 
will be found not without interest at the present day, as 
it is mostly historical. 

EXTRACTS FROM DR. LINn's REPORT. 

"The attention of the Government has been, on 
several occasions, called to this important subject [the 
occupation of the Oregon Territory] by bills and reso- 
lutions, through able and elaborate reports from commit- 
tees of Congress, and in various executive comnnmica- 
tions. We will not ascend higher in the legislative his- 
tory of this Territory than the last annual message of 
President Monroe, in which he says : ' In looking to the 
interests which the United States have on the Pacific 
Ocean, and on the western coast of this continent, the 



200 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

propriety of establishing a military post at the mouth 
of the Columbia river, or at some other point in that 
quarter within our acknowledged limits, is sidjuiitted 
to the consideration of Congress. Our commerce and 
fisheries on that sea, and along that coast, have much 
increased, and are increasing. It is thought that a 
military post, to which our ships of war might resort, 
would afford protection to every interest, and have a 
tendency to conciliate the tribes of the north-west, with 
whom our trade is extensive. It is thought, also, that 
by the establishment of such a post, the intercoiu-se 
between our Western States and territories and the Pa- 
cific, and our trade with the tribes residing in the inte- 
rior, on each side of the Rocky Mountains, would be 
essentially protected. To carry this object into effect, 
the appropriation of an adequate sum to authorize the 
employment of a frigate, with an officer of the corps 
of engineers to explore the mouth of the Columbia river, 
and the coast contiguous thereto, to enable the Execu- 
tive to make such establishment at the most suitable 
point, is recommended to Congress.' 

*' Such were the views of an enlightened statesman 
and patriot. The administration which succeeded, took 
up this matter, and it became the subject of negotia- 
tion between the Government of Great Britain and the 
United States, in which nothing was done definitively to 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 201 

settle the claims of the parties. This coiTespondence 
was marked by great ability. 

" The lapse of time and the progress of events in 
that quarter of the continent which are unfriendly to 
the interests of the United States, require, in the opin- 
ion of your committee, action on the part of this Gov- 
ernment, as prompt and decided as may be consistent 
with the peace and good understanding which no^\■ ex- 
ist, and we sincerely hope will ever continue to exist, 
between England and the United States, who have so 
many reasons to wish its continuance. 

" President Jackson, aware of the importance of this 
country to our best interests, employed a special agent 
to proceed to the territory in question, who was charged 
with the duty of examining into its political, physi- 
cal, and geographical condition." 

The committee then gave the instructions which 
Mr. Slocum, the speciiJ agent, received from Mr. For- 
syth, Secretary of State, and mention that he, on the 
1st of June, 183G, proceeded to comply Avith these in- 
structions. They then state the title of the United 
States to this country. 

" The validity of the title of the United States to 
the territory on the northwest coast, between the lati- 
tude of 42° to 49°, is not questioned by any power 
except Great Britain. The 3d article of the treaty of 
Washington, of 22d February, 1819, between the Uni- 



202 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

ted States and Spain, established their mutual bound- 
ary line on the parallel of 42° ; and from the Rocky 
Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, Spain made a formal 
and full relinquishment of all claim north of that line. 
The southernmost point to which Russia claims on that 
coast was fixed by her treaty with Great Britain of Feb- 
ruary, 1825, at 54° 40'. By the provisions of these 
two treaties, the space between the Spanish bomidaiy 
north, at 42°, and the Russian boundary south, at 
54° 40', is entirely unclaimed except by the United 
States and Great Britain. The respective claims of 
these two powers have been, from time to time, the 
subject of negotiation and provisonal arrangement by 
treaty ; having in view the temporary protection of the 
interests of the parties, while the final adjustment of 
their rights is left open to future arrangements. These 
temporary arrangements, by the convention of 1825, 
are mutually obligatory, until either of the parties who 
may desire a change shall have given to the other one 
year's notice. 

" The treaty of Ghent contains no specific allusion to 
the possession of the United States on the northwest 
coast ; but under the claim of the treaty, article 1st, 
which provides that all territory, places, and posses- 
sions whatever, taken by either party from the other 
during the war, &c., shall be restored without delay, 
the United States settlement at the mouth of the Co- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 203 

lurabia river, called Astoria, was included, and subse- 
quently formally restored to an authorized agent of the 
United States ; bv which act the Oreo;on Territory for 
the first time became the subject of negotiation between 
the two governments. 

"By the convention with Great Britain of 1818, it 
was stipulated that, east of the Stony jMountains, and 
west of the lakes, the northern boundary of the United 
States and the southern boundary of Great Britain, 
should be the 49th parallel of latitude ; but in regard to 
the temtory west of the Stony jMountains, and on the 
northwest coast, it was stipulated that any country 
which may be claimed by either party, shall, with its 
harbors, bays, rivers, &c., be//-<?e and open for the term 
of ten years to the vessels, citizens, &c., of the two 
powers ; it being AveU understood that this agreement 
is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claim 
which either of the high contracting parties may have 
to any part of the said country, the only object being 
to prevent disputes and differences arising among 
themselves. 

"AVlien, in 1823, negotiations were opened for the 
continuance of the temporary convention of 1818, the 
question in regard to the title and boundaries of the 
mouth of the Columl)ia began to be considered of 
much importance in our relations \A\\\ Great Britain. 
Although, previous to this time, there had been some 



204 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

diplomatic conversation on the subject, there had been 
no formal, written negotiation, until -1823, when Mr. 
Adams, as Secretary of State, gave instructions to Mr. 
Rush, the United States minister to England, to m^ge 
the settlement of our territorial limits west of the Stony 
Mountains. Mr. Rush was instructed to suggest the 
parallel of 51° as the southern boundary of Great Bri- 
tain. But if the line already settled at 49° latitude to 
the Stony Mountains should be earnestly insisted on by 
Great Britain, ' we M^ill consent to carry it in continu- 
ance on the same parallel west to the Pacific Ocean.' 
To the propositions of Mr. Rush, made in pursuance 
of these instructions, the British commissioners an- 
swered by controverting all the facts and principles on 
which the United States rested, and they declared that 
Great Britain considered the whole of the unoccupied 
parts of America as open to her future settlement, in 
the manner as heretofore, and they included in this de- 
scription the unoccupied territory between the 42 d and 
51st degrees of north latitude. Great Britain would 
not relinquish the principle of colonization on. that 
coast. She insisted on the principles established against 
Spain in the Nootka Sound controversy ; besides, the 
commissioners contended that Great Britain had a par- 
amount title by discovery and occupancy. The nego- 
tiation terminated in the convention of 1827, by which 
that of 1818 was indefinitely extended, with perniis- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 205 

sion to either party to abrogate it upon twelve months' 
notice. This convention fixes the actual existing rela- 
tions between Great Britain and the United States on 
the subject of the northwest territory. 

" What little consequence Great Biitain attached to 
her claim of right to colonize, and how little she relied 
on it for any permanent purpose, is shown by the fact, 
that during the progress of the negotiation, she pro- 
posed, in a formal projet submitted by her commission- 
ers, to fix the dividing line definitively on the 49th par- 
allel of north latitude, until tliat parallel strikes the 
northwesternmost branch of the Columbia river ; 
thence down the middle of that river to the Pacific 
Ocean. And at the moment that this pretension of a 
right of colonization was urged upon our commission- 
ers, it was abandoned by the Britith Ambassador at St. 
Petersburg, who, in February, 18.25, concluded a 
treaty, relinquishing to Russia all claim of whiitever 
nature, north of 54° 40'. Indeed, it was obvious that, 
whether the results of the Nootka Sound controversy, 
in 1790, had been wrung by Great Britain from the 
weakness of Spain, or had been yielded by her justice, 
that neither llussia nor the United States coidd acqui- 
esce in a principle which would leave their valuable 
possessions on the northwest coast perpetually open to 
the capricious inroads of other powers. The preten- 
sion of an unoccupied coast in 1825, was not the less 



206 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

monstrous than that of Russia to a closed sea in that 

region, which disturbed the gravity of the diplomatic 

corps in 1820. The British nogotiators of all times 

declined the responsibility of starting this pretension in 

writing, and having, since the negotiation, in which it 

was verbally urged against us, abandoned it in regard 

to Russia, and as, in its natm^e, its existence is tenni- 

nated by the lapse of time and the progress of events, 

it may noio be considered obsolete. 
* * -X- ****** 

" Certainly, if mere discovery of the coast could give 
title, that of Spain would be entirely incontrovertible ; 
and this Government, having succeeded to her rights, 
the question would be at an end. Balboa discovered 
the western shore of America in September, 1513, and 
' advancing up to his middle in the waves, with his 
buckler and sword in hand, took possession of that 
ocean in the name of the king, his master, and vowed 
to defend it with his arms against all his enemies.' 
Cortez discovered California in 1526, up to about par- 
allel 30°. In 1543, Cubrillo explored the coast from 
that point up to 42°. In 1592, John de Rica discov- 
ered the strait which bears his name, in latitude 48°. 
But the principle imphed in the declaration of the 
British commissioners is miquestionably correct, viz., 
that discovery, accompanied with subsequent and effi- 
cient acts of sovereignty or settlement, are necessary to 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 207 

give title. Now there is no pretence that Great Bri- 
tain has a title thus acquired ; and all that is left is to 
ascertain whether the United States can establish such 
a one in herself. 

" Not to dwell on the reported settlement by Hen- 
dricks, in 1785, in May, 1792, Captain Robert Gray, 
in the ship Cohinibia, from Boston, sailing under the 
flag of the United States, saw and entered into the 
land, which had a very good appearance of a harbor ; 
and which was, in fact, the mouth of a very large river, 
then seen for the first time by a citizen of a civilized 
nation. 

" Captain Gray entered the river, named it Columbia, 
and named the capes on either side ; continuing to ex- 
plore it from the 7tli to the 21st of ]\lay. Having 
fixed its latitude, and distinctly marked the topography 
of the neighborhood, and the bearings of the various 
headlands around the bay, he returned to the United 
States, and announced his important discovery. Thus 
was the Columbia discovered bv the United States, from 
the sea. In the year 1S03, an exploring expedition 
was fitted out by this Government, to penetrate, over 
land, into the region west of the Rocky or Stony 
Mountains, as far as the mouth of the Colum])ia ri\er. 
Every body knows the signal success of this admirably 
conducted enterprise, which opened to the world the 
vast regions of the Upper Missouri and Rocky Moun- 



208 LIFE or DR. LINN. 

tains, and added to geography the magnificent valley 
of the Columbia. Ten years before, Mackenzie had 
penetrated to the Western Ocean, but his route did not 
touch any of the waters of this grand basin, being sev- 
eral degrees north of it. And thus this great discov- 
ery, both from the interior and the coast, belongs to 
the United States. The exploring expedition of Lewis 
and Clarke following up the discovery of the Columbia 
river, by Captain Gray, is in itself an important cir- 
cumstance in our title. It was notice to the world of 
claim, and that solemn act of possession was followed 
up by a settlement and occupation, made by that enter- 
prising and intelligent merchant, John Jacob Astor, 
under the countenance and patronage of this Govern- 
ment. This settlement and occupation continued to 
the late war with Great Britain, and by the treaty of 
Ghent was restored to us formally, after its conquest 
from the United States during that war. Thus it will 
be seen that our title has the requisites prescribed by 
Great Britain herself. With this is combined the cur- 
rent title of Spain, which was derived also from discov- 
ery, settlement, &c., and which, by the treaty of 1819, 
was transferred to the United States. The extent of 
the territory on the northwest coast, which is properly 
embraced within our limits, is to be ascertained by the 
application of the two recognized principles to the es- 
tablished facts of the case. 1st. That the discovery 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 209 

and occupation of the mouth of a river gives title to 
the region watered by it and its tributaries, as in the 
case of the Hudson, James, Mississippi rivers, &c. 
2d. That the discovery and settlement of a new comi- 
try by a civilized power, gives title half way to the set- 
tlement of the nearest ci\ilized power. The boundary 
between them is a medium line. Either of these prin- 
ciples Avill caiTy our line as far as 49°. 

" Its occupation by our Government would secure a 
vast Indian and fur trade ; its forests of gigantic tim- 
ber, extended plains, rich alluvions, where animals and 
vegetables assume their brightest fonus, would open a 
direct trade with California, China, Japan, and the 
Sandwich and Oriental Islands generally ; it would se- 
cure its prodigious fisheries of sturgeon, anchovies, and 
salmon ; for Lewis and Clarke say, ' that the multitudes 
of salmon in tlie Oregon arc inconceivable, and thcv 
ascend to its very sources, to the very ridge of the 
dividing mountains ; the water is so clear, that they 
may be seen at the depths of fifteen or twenty feet ; at 
certain seasons of the year they float in such quantities 
down the stream, and arc drifted ashore, that the In- 
dians have only to collect, split them open, and dry 
them.' It would doubtless secure, beyond the danger 
of inten-uptioii, constant intercourse and trade between 
the valley of the Mississippi and the Oregon. 

" But, to waive these advantages, the importance to 
14 



210 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

the United States, in a commercial point of view, of 
possessing some harbor on the northwest coast of Amer- 
ica, will be seen at once, when it is recollected that up- 
wards of $12,000,000 worth of property is afloat in the 
Pacific Ocean, in the whale trade alone, and which 
gives employment to 8,000 seamen. These whalers 
must have some place or places at which to refit after 
their long voyages. These vessels noio resort to the 
Sand\\ich Islands ; but it is to be remembered, that 
colonial restrictions may be enforced in time of peace, 
and in time of war this valuable and important branch 
of trade might fall an easy prey to a foreign power, for 
want of a port to give it shelter. It is the duty of a 
"wise government to provide against such contingencies. 
The bay of St. Francis, into which is discharged the 
fine river Sacramento, is one of the noblest harbors on 
the continent, and capable of containing the whole 
mercantile navy of the world. But this magnificent 
harbor, unfortunately, is not within the jurisdiction of 
the United States, but belongs to Mexico." 

Dr. Linn little dreamed then that this magnificent 
harbor would so soon fall into our hands, and did not 
hve to see it. 

After quoting from the reports of Mr. Slocum and 
Mr Baylies, Dr. Linn proceeds : 

" The day is not fai* distant, when, by the opening 
of a direct communication between the Atlantic and 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 211 

the Pacific Oceans, across the Isthmus of Darien, the 
whole trade of the eastern hemisphere will be changed. 
The pohcy of Great Britain is, therefore, to possess the 
strongest points of control on this grand thoroughfare 
of commerce, as well as over every other conunercial 
thoroughfare of the Avorld. One of these points she 
already possesses in Jamaica, and the Sandwich Islands 
is to be, nay, is, the other point of her grasping ambi- 
tion. These islands lie on that parallel of latitude 
which vessels seek in the passage to China, INIanilla, 
and Batavia, from the west coast of America, in order 
to get the force of the trade-winds which are strongest 
between 18° and 2i° of north latitude. They lie as 
directly in the route to China as the Cape of Good 
Hope for ships from the eastward. They Avoid d, there- 
fore, become of immense value as a commercial depot, 
and in time of war they would, in a military point of 
view, be as important as the ^lauritius in the Indian 
Ocean. It may be assumed, then, that these islands 
will fall into the hands of the British Government ; for 
Avhen has she neglected her foreign policy? Look at 
her possessions in the East — MaUa, Gibraltar, the key 
to the commerce of the Mediterranean, — St. Helena, 
Ascension, Cape of Good Hope, the Mauritius, Singa- 
pore, (which eff'ectually commands the Straits of Ma- 
lacca,) the Benin Islands, lying off the coast of Japan ; 
and she only lacks the SandA\ich Islands and the beau- 



212 - LIFE or DR. LINN. 

tifiil river of Columbia, and the territory watered by its 
numerous tributaries, to command, by her mighty 
means, the commerce of the whole world." 

Dr. Linn's apprehensions in regard to Great Britain 
acquiring the Sandwich Islands, though by no means 
then unreasonable, Avould now be groundless; since 
the United States, jealous of her, and she, jealous of 
us, have come to an imderstanding to let those islands 
remain as they now are, and that neither Government 
shall interfere with them. 

As to the prediction that " the day is not far dis- 
tant, when, by the opening a dii-ect communication 
between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, across the 
Isthmus of Darien, the whole trade of the eastern 
hemisphere will be changed," it is now in process of 
fulfilment, and this route is now becoming the great 
thoroughfare of commerce. But the fulfilment of 
this prediction has been greatly hastened by the annex- 
ation of California to the United States, and the acci- 
dental discovery of the immensely rich gold mmes of 
that comitry, which for a time set the world agog, and 
sent hundreds of thousands of emigrants to settle that 
far off land. Dr. Linn proceeds : 

" Independent of the importance, in a commercial 
point of view, of this territory to the United States, it 
assumes vast importance when we come to consider the 
influence it is to have, in the hands of the British, over 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 213 

the fierce and warlike tribes of Indians on the north, 
and from our western frontier to the Pacific Ocean." 
He then quotes freely from Mr. Slocum's report, show- 
ing what the Hudson's Bay Company had done, and 
the influence they had acquired over the Indians of the 
Northwestern tribes. The farm of this company at 
Vancouver, contained about 3000 acres of land, fenced 
and under cultivation, employing generally one hun- 
dred men, chiefly Canadians and half breed Iroquois. 
The mechanics were Europeans. 

" At first sight," continues Dr. Linn, " it would be 
reasonable to suj)posc that the rugged and stern Rocky 
Mountains, Avhose summits are covered with snow, and 
ascend/«r beyond the region of pcipetual congelation, 
would constitute an everlasting banier to the passage 
of hostile armies between the valley of the Mississippi 
and that of the Columbia ; for all the journals and nar- 
ratives of the early explorers of this gloomy region, are 
replete Avitli the suflerings and privations of those 
who made the passage. The accounts given us by 
Lewis and Clarke, Andrew Henry, Wilson P. Hunt, 
Ramsay Crooks, and many others, seemed to have 
placed this beyond the possibility of a doubt. But of 
this we shall see. One of its loftiest peaks has been 
mounted by a traveller after incessant toil. The pros- 
pect presenting itself and the feelings of the beholder, 
are given in the gorgeous language of Irving : 



214 LIFE OF DR. LI^'N. 

" ' Here a scene biu'st upon the view of Captain 
Bonneville, that for a time astonished and overA\'helmed 
him with its immensity. He stood, in fact, upon that 
dividing ridge, which Indians regard as the crest of the 
world ; and on each side of which the landscape de- 
clines to the two cardinal oceans of the world. Which- 
ever way he turned his eye, he was confused by the 
vastness and variety of objects. Beneath him the 
Rocky Mountains seemed to open rugged defiles and 
foaming torrents ; while, heyond their savage precincts, 
the eye was lost in an almost immeasm'able landscape, 
stretching on every side into dim and hazy distance like 
the expanse of a summer sea. Whichever way he 
looked he beheld vast plains glimmering with reflected 
sunshine ; mighty streams wandering on their sliining 

* 

com'se towards either ocean, and snowy mountains, 
chain heyond chain, and peak heyond peak, they melted 
like clouds into the horizon. Por a time the Indian 
fable seemed to-be realized. He had obtained that 
height from which the Black Foot w\arrior, after death, 
catches a view of the land of souls, and beholds the 
happy hunting-grounds spread out before him, bright- 
ening with the abodes of free and generous spirits.' 
This line of continuous mountains, when viewed at a 
distance, every where seems impassable : the mind 
shrinks or recoils from such frowning and forbidding 
obstacles. But witliin ten or fifteen years, passes of 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 215 

such gentle slope have been discovered that loaded 
wagons easily traverse them. 

" From the valley of the River Platte, General Ashley 
passed to the opposite valleys of waters that fall into 
the Great Bear Lake. 

" The waters of this great internal sea are much more 

brackish than that of the ocean. He descended, in 

canoes, one of the rivers that disembogued into it, 

which was 150 miles in length; and on coasting the 

lake, he found it 100 miles long, and from 60 to 80 

wide. Since then, the passage of the Rocky Mountains 

has become an affair of ordinary occurrence, and even 

performed by delicate females. 
********* 

" A vast chain of mountains commences at the 
southern extremity of the American continent, which 
ranges along the borders of the Pacific Ocean, and after 
tkreadhifj the Isthmus of Darien, passes, with various 
altitudes through Guatemala, Mexico and its provinces, 
California, Oregon, and finally disappears in the Arctic 
region. The northern portion is called the Rocky or 
Stony Mountains, which rise in abrupt ruggedness on 
the side of the great North American plains, and ap- 
parently formed at a remote period in the history of the 
world, on its eastern face, the walls to a vast internal 
sea, the bed of which was the valley of the Mississippi ; 
whilst from its western flanks the descent is in regular 



216 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

terraces to the ocean. The northern extremity of this 
great spine of the world, gives origin to some of the 
noblest rivers of the globe, the Missouri, Saskatchawine, 

Peace, Columbia, &c. 

**■?:• * -X- •5C- i.^ * i^ 

" Navigators, early as well as recent, portray the 
country in glowing language, and dwell Anth delight on 
the lovely variety of hill and dale, fertility of soil, noble 
forests, amenity of landscape, pure limpid streams 
flowing through the land ; but above all, they dwell 
with the greatest satisfaction on the soft climate of this 
delightful coast. Cook, Dixon, Portlock, Vancouver, 
Langsdorf, Kotzebue, and many others, unite in the 
same opinion as to the benignity of the climate, which 
varies widely from that on the opposite coast of the 
Atlantic Ocean, where, in the winter and spring seasons, 
in the same parallels of latitude, storm, hail, snow, and 
sleet hold sullen sway. 

"Mr. Prevost says that, ' the climate to the south- 
ward of 53*^, assumes a mildness unknown in the same 
latitude on the eastern side of the continent. Without 
digressing to speculate upon the cause, I vnH merely 
state that such is particularly the fact in 46° 16', the 
site of Fort Gregory. The mercury during the winter 
seldom descends below the freezing point ; when it does 
so, it is rarely stationary for any number of days, and 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 217 

the severity of the season is more determined by the 
quantity of water than by its congelation. The rains 
usually commence with November, and continue to fall 
partially imtil the latter end of March or the beginning 
of April. A benign spring succeeds, and when the 
summer heats obtain, they are so tempered with showers 
as seldom to suspend vegetation. I found it luxuriant 
on my arrival, (October 1, 1818,) and during a fort- 
night's stay, experienced no change of weather to retard 
its course.' 

" In conclusion, the committee would remark, that 
the title of the United States to the Territory of Oregon 
is, in their opinion, beyond doubt ; that its possession 
is important in our commercial and Indian relations ; 
that it is in danger of being lost by delay, and so 
viewing it, they hope the Executive will take steps to 
bring the controversy on this subject Avith England to 
a speedy termination. In the mean time, they have re- 
ported a bilh authorizing the President to employ in 
that quarter such portions of the army and navy of the 
United States as he may deem necessary for the pro- 
tection of the persons and property of those who may 
reside in that country." 

The reports of travellers and navigators in regard 
to the fertility of the soil and the beauty of the climate 
of distant and newly discovered lands, are proverbial, 



218 LIFE OF DR LINN. 

and a little of the color of the rose may have been 
thi'own into their accounts of the Columbia or Oregon 
country, which was transferred to Dr. Linn's report. 
But the real value of the country in a commercial and 
political point of view, was by no means over-estimated. 
Dr. Linn saw this with the eye of a statesman ; he saw 
that if the United States government did not act 
promptly in the matter, England, pursuing with steady 
perseverance her policy of grasping important positions 
in every quarter of the globe, would secm-e this country 
to herself, and would, m that case, exercise a controlling 
and dangerous influence over all the fierce tribes of In- 
dians in the northAvest and in the Rocky Mountains, 
whom she coidd at any time incite to commit depreda- 
tions upon the people living along our western and 
northwestern borders. He saw, too, that the great fur 
trade of the Rocky Mountains and northwest, so profit- 
able to those engaged in it, and the means by which a 
very great influence was exercised over the Indians, 
would be taken whoUy from us, and monopolized by 
the British Hudson's Bay Company, Avhich had abeady 
established forts and trading posts in various parts of 
it, and had large establishments on the Columbia river, 
Puget's Sound, &c. 

But though he pressed this subject upon the atten- 
tion of the Senate with zeal and earnestness. Dr. L. 
was unable to procure the passage of his bill at this 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 219 

time. It was not his nature, liowever, to give up the 
ship because he could not immediately command suc- 
cess, and he therefore contmued liis exertions in this 
cause session after session, and Congress after Congress. 

Early in the next session, on the 11th Dec, 1838, 
he introduced a bill to authorize the occupation of the 
Columbia or Oregon Territory, which was read twice 
and referred to a special conunittee consisting of Mr. 
Lirm, chairman, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Claij of Ky., Mr. 
Walker and Mr. Fierce. 

On the 2Sth of January, 1839, he presented the 
following memorial from the citizens of the Oregon 
Territory, which was ordered to be printed. 

To the honorable the Senate and Home of Repre- 
sentatives of the United States of America. 

The undersigned, settlers south of the Columbia 
river, beg leave to represent to your honorable body, 
that our settlement, begun in the year eighteen hundred 
and thirty -two, has hitherto prospered beyond the most 
sanguine expectations of its first projectors. The pro- 
ducts of our fields have amply justified the most 
flattering descriptions of tlie fertility of the soil, while 
the facilities which it affords for rearing cattle, are, per- 
haps, exceeded by no country in North America. The 
people of the United States, we believe, are not gen- 
erally apprised of the extent of valuable country west 



220 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

of the Rocky Mountains. A large portion of the 
temtory from the Columbia river south, to the bound- 
ary line between the United States and the Mexican 
Republic, and extending from the coast of the Pacific 
about tAvo hundred and fifty or three hundred miles to 
the interior, is either well supplied with timber, or 
adapted to pasturage or agriculture. The fertile valleys 
of the Wallamette and Umpqua are varied with prairies 
and woodland, and intersected by abundant lateral 
streams, presenting facilities for machinery. Perhaps 
no country of the same latitude is favored with a climate 
so mild. The winter rains, it is true, are an objection ; 
but they are generally preferred to the suoavs and intense 
cold which prevail in the northern parts of the United 
States. The ground is seldom covered with snow, nor 
does it ever remain but a few hours. 

We need hardly allude to the commerical advantages 
of the territory. Its happy position for trade with 
China, India, and tlie w^estern coasts of America, will 
be readily recognised. The growing importance, hoAv- 
ever, of the islands of the Pacific is not so generally 
knoAvn and appreciated. As these islands progress in 
civilization, their demand for the produce of more 
northern climates will increase. Nor can any country 
supply them Avith beef, flour, &c., on terms so advan- 
tageous as this. A very successful effort has been re- 
cently made at the SandAvich Islands in the cultivation 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 221 

of coffee and the sugar cane. A colony here will, in 
time, thence easily derive these articles and other tropical 
products in exchange for the produce of their own labor. 

We have thus briefly alluded to the natural resoiu'ces 
of the country, and to its external relations. They are, 
in our opinion, strong inducements for the government 
of the United States to take formal and speedy posses- 
sion. We urge this step as ])romising to the general 
interests of the nation. But the advantages it may 
confer upon us, and the evils it may avert from our 
posterity, are incalculable. 

Our social intercoiu'se has thus far been prosecuted 
with reference to the feelings of honor, to the feeling 
of dependence on the Hudson's Bay Company, and to 
their moral influence. Under this state of things we 
have thus far prospered, but we cannot hope that it will 
continue. The agriculture and other resources of the 
countrv cannot fail to induce emigration and commerce. 
As our settlement begins to draw its su])plies through 
otlier channels, the feeling of dependence upon the 
Hudson's Bay Company, to which we have alhuled as 
one of the safeguards of our social intercourse, will 
"begin to diminish. We are anxious when we imagine 
what will be, what must be, the condition of so mixed 
a comnumity, free from all legal restraint, and superior 
to that moral influence which has hitherto been the 
pledge of our safety. 



222 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

Our interests are identified with those of the 
country of our adoption. We flatter ourselves that we 
are the germ of a great State, and are anxious to give 
an early tone to the moral and intellectual character of 
its citizens. We are fully aware, too, that the destinies 
of our i)osterity will be intimately affected by the char- 
acter of those who emigrate to the country. The ter- 
ritory must populate. The Congress of the United 
States must say hj whom. The natural resources of 
the coimtry, with a well-judged civil code, will invite a 
good community. But a good community will hardly 
emigrate to a country which promises no protection for 
life or property. Inquiries have already been submitted 
to some of us for information of the country. In re- 
turn we can only speak of a country highly favored of 
nature. We can boast of no civil code. We can 
promise no protection but the idterior resort of self- 
defence. By whom, then, shall our country be popu- 
lated ? By the reckless and unprincipled adventurer ! 
not by the hardy and enterprising pioneer of the West. 
By the Botany Bay refugee, by the renegade of civili- 
zation from the Rocky Mountains, by the profligate 
deserted seaman from Polynesia, and the unprincipled 
sharpers from South America. Well we are assured 
that it vviU cost the government of the United States 
more to reduce elements so discordant to social order 
than to promote our permanent peace and prosperity 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 233 

by a timely action of Congress. Nor can we suppose 
that so vicious a population could be relied on in case of 
a ruptiu-e between the United States and any other 
power. 

Our intercoiu-se with the natives among us, guided 
nuich by the same influence which has promoted har- 
mony among ourselves, has been generally pacific. But 
the same causes which Avill interrupt harmony among 
ourselves, will also interrupt our friendly relations 
with the natives. It is, therefore, of ])rimary im- 
portance both to them and us, that the government 
should take energetic measm-es to secure the execution 
of all laws affecting Iiulian trade and the intercourse of 
wliite men and Indians. We have thus briefiv shoAvn 
that the secm-ity of our persons and our property, the 
hopes and destinies of our children, are involved in the 
objects of our petition. We do not presume to suggest 
the manner in wliicli the country should be occupied 
by the govenunent, nor tlie extent to which oiu* settle- 
ment should be encouraged. We confide in the wisdom 
of (jur national legislators ; inul leave the subject to 
their candid deliberations, and your petitioners will ever 
pray. 

(Signed) J. S. Whitcomb, and 35 others, March 
IG, 1838. 

Upon the motion of Dr. Linn the memorial was 
ordered to be printed. 



224 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

On the 2 2d of February the bill to provide for the 
protection of the citizens of the United States residing 
m the Oregon Territory, or trading on the Columbia 
river, was taken up, and Mr. Linn addressed the 
Senate in its support. 

Mr. Linn said he thought it time the government 
of the United States stretched forth its protecting arm 
to such of its citizens as now resided in the Oregon 
Territory, and asserted our title to that country. That 
the title of the United States was clear and indisputable 
he had not the shadow of a doubt ; this had been so 
often and so clearly demonstrated that he should not 
now detain the Senate by any remarks upon the subject. 

By the convention of 1818, between the United 
States and Great Britain, indefinitely continued by that 
of 1828, it was agreed that both countries should have 
concm-rent possession and jurisdiction of the Oregon 
Territory. But this convention has been, and noAv is, 
a nullity to us ; for Great Britain, through the medium 
of the Hudson's Bay Company, has built and armed 
several forts in advantageous positions in that country, 
equipped ships, erected houses and improved farms ; 
and has opened a trade with all the tribes of Indians 
on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains as far 
south as the Gulf of California. Their hunters and 
trappers have penetrated all the valleys and glens of the 
Rocky Mountains, scattering arms and munitions of war, 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 225 

and fomenting discontent against the United States in 
tlie bosoms of those Indian tribes. They have driven 
om' people from the Indian trade, which yielded seven 
or eight hundred thousand dollars per annum, and even 
pushed their operations east of the Rocky jMomitains 
to the great Mississippi valley. 

To aU these aggressions we have tamely submitted, 
and still tamely svdjmit, though he hoped the extreme 
point of forbearance woidd soon be reached, and om* 
government would assert and maintain its rights. 

The haughty, grasphig, unjust spirit of Great Britain 
was ever manifest ; she had ruined or driven us from 
our fur trade, which she now monopolizes, and seems 
disposed to appropriate the splendid pine forests of 
Maine to her own use. This grasping spmt must be 
checked. 

As regards this 1)111, Mr. L. said he should make no 
motion ; leaving it in the hands of the Senate, as many 
esteemed friends around and near him seemed to think 
that, at this critical juncture, its passage might be mis- 
construed. But he pledged hunsclf not to permit our 
claims to this territory to slumber. 

On motion of "Sir. Wright the bill was committed 
to the Committee on Foreign Relations ; and on motion 
of Mr. Tallmadge, 5000 extra copies were ordered to 
be printed. 

At this time there was a controversy between the 
15 



226 LIFE or DR. LINN. 

United States and Great Britain in regard to the North- 
eastern Bonndary between the two countries ; great 
excitement prevailed among the people of Maine, and 
troops had been, or were soon after, called out by the 
Governor of that State and marched to the territory in 
dispute, to defend it against British aggression, both 
parties claiming jurisdiction over it, and were under- 
taking to enforce their own laws upon the people. This 
was the " critical juncture " to which Dr. Linn alluded, 
and which induced him to refrain from pressing the bill 
at this session. 

On the 8th of Januaiy, 1841, Dr. Linn again 
brought the subject of Oregon before the Senate, by 
moving a joint resolution of which he had given previous 
notice, to authorize the adoption of measures for the 
occupation and settlement of the territory, and for ex- 
tending certain portions of the laws of the United States 
over the same. 

Mr. Linn said that when his bill was up at the last 
session for discussion, both political friends and oppo- 
nents pressed him to forbear urging it during the nego- 
tiations with the British government for the adjustment 
of another question, from a fear of embarrassing its 
settlement. Though this was not at the time convincing 
to him, it was sufficient that it was the advice of gen- 
tlemen of experience, and he had acted in accordance 
with it. But he now desired that measures should be 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 227 

speedily adopted to secure oiir rights in that temtory. 
If his memory sensed him correctly, England, pending 
the negotiations at Ghent, had been wiUing to purchase 
the territory ; he did not mean to say there was any 
formal offer made, but, finding that no such arrange- 
ment could be entered into, she had progressed step 
by step in her encroachments, untU she now presented 
a bold claim where she had not a shadow of right ; and 
such he believed would be the case as long as she was 
allowed to occupy any portion of the temtory. Great 
Britain had extended her possessions gradually from the 
extreme branch of the Columbia River to the Pacific 
Ocean. 

On the 18th December, 1839, Dr. Linn called 
the attention of the Senate to the subject by sub- 
mitting a series of resolutions which were referred to a 
select committee, from which, on the 31st of March 
following, 1840, he reported a substitute which asserted 
the title of the United States, authorized the President 
to take such measures as might be necessary to protect 
the persons and property of citizens of the United 
States resident therein, and to erect a line of military 
posts from Fort Leavenworth to the Rocky ]\Iountains 
for the protection of Indian traders. It provided also, 
that when the boundaries should be settled, one thou- 
sand acres of land shall be granted to each white male 



228 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

inhabitant of eighteen years of age; and for the ap-. 
pointment of an Indian agent for that territory. 

On the 28th of April he introduced, on leave, a bill 
to extend a portion of the laws of the United States 
over the Territory of Oregon ; and on his motion, May 
24th, his Oregon resolutions were made the special 
order of the day for that day two weeks ; but it does 
not appear that the day ever arrived, as nothing further 
is recorded as having been done during that session. 
Wliy it was so is not now easy to say, but Dr. Linn 
found the task he had undertaken in regard to Oregon 
a Sisyphean labor ; a toil every session to be renewed, 
and never ended ; nor was the accomplishment of the 
object at which he aimed, destined to cheer his spirits, 
gladden his heart, or reward him for his unremitting 
toil. 

By a letter he had recently received, he learned that 
the Hudson's Bay Company w^as introducing emigrants 
from England and other parts by the way of Cape 
Horn; they brought shepherds and placed them on 
farms ; they had erected forts on the Territory of Oregon, 
and had pushed their establishments on the south to 
California, and on the east to the Rocky Mountains ; 
and by an act of Parliament, a portion of the criminal 
law of Great Britain was extended up to the very con- 
fines of Missoiu-i and Arkansas. Now, if we have a 
just right to that territory, he was not the man to- say it 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 229 

should be abandoned to any power on earth ; he was 
for claiming and exercising our rights, and excluding 
those who were so insidiously, perseveringly, and auda- 
ciously endeavoring to gain possession of a country to 
which they had not the least pretence of a claim. 

The joint resolution having been twice read, was 
referred to a select committee of five, to wit -. Mr. Linn, 
Mr. AValker, Mr. Preston, Mr. Pierce, and Mr. Sevier : 
from which committee Mr. Linn reported the resolution 
without amendment to the Senate on the 14th of 
January. 

But it docs not appear that the subject came up for 
consideration diu'ing this, the short session of Congress, 
it being probably prevented by the usual press of the 
ordinary business of legislation. Dr. Linn had pledged 
himself, however, and had thus far proved faithful to 
his pledge, not to let the subject sleep, and our just 
claims to the country to be rendered nugatory by 
neglect ; and he Avas not the man to give up the pur- 
suit of a just and national cause, so long as there was 
a possibility of attaining his object. 

Again, at the extra session of Congress, August 
2d, 1841, Dr. Linn brought the subject before the 
Senate, by submitting a resolution that the President 
of the United States be recpiested to give the notice to 
the British Government which the convention of 1827 
between the two governments requires, in order to put 



230 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

an end to the treaty for the joint occupation of the 
Territory of Oregon west of the Rocky Mountains, and 
which territory is now possessed and used by the Hud- 
son's Bay Company, to the ruin of the American In- 
dian and fur trade in that quarter, and conflicting with 
our inland commerce with the internal provinces of 
Mexico. 

Subsequently the resolution came up, when, upon 
the motion of Mr. Morehead of Ky., and by the ac- 
quiescence of the mover, it was so amended as to duect 
the Committee on Foreign Relations " to inquire into the 
expediency of requesting the President," &c., in which 
form it was adopted. But it does not appear that the 
committee to whom the subject was referred ever made 
any report. 

Early in the next session, Dec. 16th, 1841, Dr. Linn 
again moved in the matter, by introducing a bill to 
authorize the adoption of measures for the occupation 
and settlement of the Territory of Oregon, for extending 
certain portions of the laws of the United States over 
the same, and for other pm'poses, which was referred to 
a select committee ; and on the 4th of January, sub- 
mitted a resolution similar to that which he offered on 
the 2d of August preceding, mentioned above. These, 
the biU and resolution, came up for discussion on several 
occasions during the session, when, on the 31st of 
August ('42), Mr. Linn addi-essed the Senate in support 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 231 

of his bill concerning the occupation of the Oregon 
Territory. 

Remarks of Mr. Linn of Missouri^ in Senate of the 
United States, August Sl^f, 1842, concerning the 
occupation of the Oregon Territory. 

Mr. Linn said that he was instmcted by the Select 
Committee on the Tcrritoiy of Oregon, to ask to be 
discharged from the further consideration of the memo- 
rials which he held in his hand ; and, before putthig 
the question, he asked the attention of the Senate to a 
few remarks, which he felt it was his imperative duty 
to make upon this interesting subject of the Territory 
of Oregon. Besides this bundle of memorials praying 
Congress to take steps to assert our title to the Terri- 
tory, and to enact measures to encourage emigration, 
he said the Legislatures of two or three States had 
passed resolutions asking Congress to assert our rights 
to the country we claimed on tlie western ocean, and 
to take such other steps as the urgency of the case 
seemed to demand. 

He had also in his possession hundreds upon hun- 
dreds of letters from every quarter of the Union, making 
anxious inquiries as to what was doing, and what was 
likely to be done by Congress, relative to this long- 
agitated and long-deferred question. It was due to 
his correspondents, his constituents, and to the country 



232 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

generally, to let them know the present posture of this 
business here. You will recollect, Mr. President, that 
at a very early day in this session, I asked leave of the 
Senate to introduce a bill to authorize the adoption of 
measiu'es for the occupation and settlement of the Ter- 
ritory of Oregon ; for extending certain portions of the 
laws of the United States over the same, and for other 
purposes. 

The preamble of the bill reads thus : 

" Whereas, the title of the United States to the 
Territory of Oregon is certain, and will not be aban- 
doned." 

This declaration Avas important to the citizens of 
the United States who reside in the Territory — now 
amounting to fifteen hundred or two thousand persons. 
To many on the road to the Territory, and to thousands 
who were preparing to move to that region, it was an 
assurance that, although upoii the verge, the extremest 
verge of this Republic, the Government of the United 
States would not abandon them to any foreign power. 

The next paragraph of the bill authorized the 
President of the United States " to cause to be erected 
at suitable places and distances, a line of military posts 
from some point on the Missouri River into the best 
pass for entering the valley of the Oregon ; and, also, 
at or near the mouth of the Columbia River." 

The estabhshment of such a line of posts had been 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 233 

thought of by hunself for several years past — had been 
recommended by Mr. Poinsett ; by the President of 
the United States in his message at the opening of the 
present session ; and also by the Secretary of War. 
The necessity of the establishment of a military post 
at the mouth of the Columbia would an-est the atten- 
tion of the most casual observer. It was important as 
a nucleus around which our infant colonies could be 
firmly established ; but, above all, as a naval station, 
where our vast commerce in the Pacific ocean could 
take shelter in time of war, and refit in time of peace. 

The line of military posts from the ^Missouri River 
to the Rocky ^lountains woidd serve a triple purpose — 
protection to the frontiers of ]\Iissouri and Arkansas ; 
protection to the IMexican trade and the fur trade ; and 
afford assistance to emigrants on their route to the 
Territory of Oregon. 

For the pui-pose of ascertaining the best points for 
these posts. Lieutenant Fremont had been despatched 
by the War Department early in the sunnncr, whose 
return is not expected before the month of November 
next. From the known abilities of this gentleman, we 
expect much valuable and interesting infonnation relat- 
ing to the valley of the river Platte ; which river empties 
into the Missouri River, and whose sources almost 
interlock with the branches of the Columbia River, in 
the great southern passes of the Rocky JMountains. 



234 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

The next paragraph of this bill provides "that six 
hundred and forty acres of land shall be granted to 
every white male inhabitant of said Territoiy, of the 
age of eighteen years and upwards, who shall cultivate 
and use the same for five consecutive years, or to his 
heir or heirs-at-law, if such there be." 

This, Mr. Linn said, would be nothing more than 
a mere liberal donation to the early pioneers of the 
desert. It was the principle upon which France and 
Spain, and, indeed, every other Eiu-opean nation Avho 
had made settlements upon this continent, had pro- 
ceeded. It was upon this foundation the " Old Thir- 
teen" had been built up, and upon which policy they 
were enabled to contend successfully with the mightiest 
power in the world. 

With such examples before us, sm-ely w^e shall not 
pursue a less liberal course than that of our forefathers. 
Emigrants may, therefore, reasonably expect that, what- 
ever bill may pass, this provision, or some one like it, 
wiU be preserved in it. 

The next provides " that the President is hereby 
authorized and required to appoint two additional In- 
dian Agents, with a salary of fifteen hundred doUars 
each, whose duty it shall be (under his direction and 
control) to superintend the interests of the United 
States with any or every Indian tribe west of any 
agency now established by law." 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 235 

Hitlierto, the Britisli Government — or rather its 
agents, the Hudson's Bay Company — have had un- 
lunited control over the Territory and its resources — 
have erected forts at the most important points — estab- 
Ushed trading-posts over the Territoiy — built trading- 
vessels — traded in lumber with the Sandwich Islands — 
in provisions with the Russians of the north — trapped 
the mountain's streams for their beaver —swept the 
coast of the valuable sea-otter — established valuable 
salmon fisheries on the Columbia — and exercised ex- 
clusive dominion over all the tribes of Indians west of 
the Rocky Mountains. It was time the people of the 
United States should participate in these advantages. 
It was time they should have agents, thus (jualitied, to 
give the government geographical, mineralogical, and all 
other information touching the Territory a;id its natural 
resources ; and link, by the ties of treaties, all the tribes 
of Indians west of the Rocky Mountains with the gov- 
ernment of the United States. 

Mr. L. said at this moment he could do nothing 
more than just touch upon the various features of the bill. 

The next section of the bill will speak for itself. 

In the numerous communications which he had 
received from various individuals, all speak of the impor- 
tance of military protection, ])ut dwell with earnestness 
upon the absolute necessity of extending some portions 
of the laws of the United States over the Territory. 



236 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

In the opinion of tlie committee, it was thought 
that the second, third, and fourth sections of the bill 
would be the most eflPective in the present condition of 
things, that could be devised ; which are as follows : 

" Sec. 2. That the civil and criminal jurisdiction of 
the supreme court and district courts of the Territory 
of Iowa be, and the same is hereby extended over that 
part of the Indian territories lying west of the present 
hmits of the said Territory of Iowa, and south of the 
forty -ninth degree of north latitude, and east of the 
Rocky Mountains, and north of the boundary line 
between the United States and the Republic of Texas, 
not included within the limits of any State ; and also 
over the Indian territories comprising the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and the country between them and the Pacific 
Ocean, south of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of 
north latitude, and north of the forty-second degree of 
north latitude ; and justices of the peace may be ap- 
pointed for the said territory, in the same manner and 
with the same powers as are now provided by law in 
relation to the Territory of loAva : Provided, that any 
subject of the government of Great Britain, Avho shall 
have been arrested under the provisions of this act for 
any crime alleged to have been committed within the 
territory westward of the Stony or Rocky Mountains, 
while the same remained free and open to the vessels, 
citizens, and subjects of the United States and of Great 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 237 

Britain, pm-suant to stipulations between the two 
powers, shall be delivered np, on proof of his being 
such British subject, to the nearest or most convenient 
authorities, having cognizance of such offence by the 
laws of Great Britain, for the purpose of being prose- 
cuted and tried according to such laws. 

" Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, that two associate 
judges of the supreme court of the Territory of Iowa, 
in addition to the number now authorized by law, shall 
be appointed in the same manner, hold their offices by 
the same tenure and for the same time, receive the same 
compensation, and possess all the powers and authority 
confiruied by la\v upon the associate judges of the said 
territory ; and two judicial districts shall be organized 
by the said supreme cornet, in addition to the existing 
number in reference to the jurisdiction conferred by this 
act ; and district courts shall be held in the said dis- 
tricts by one of the judges of the supreme court at 
such times and places as the said couil shall direct ; 
and the said district com1s shall possess all the powers 
and authority invested in the present chstrict courts of 
the said territory, and may, in like manner, appoint 
their own clerks. 

" Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, that any justice 
of the peace, appointed in and for the territories de- 
scribed in the first section of this act, shall have power 
to cause all offenders against the laws of the United 



238 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

States to be arrested by such persons as they shall ap- 
point for that purpose, and to commit such offenders 
to safe custody for trial, in the same cases and in the 
manner provided by law in relation to the territories of 
the United States or any of them ; and to cause the 
offenders so committed to be conveyed to the place ap- 
pointed for the holding of a district court for the said 
Territory of Iowa, nearest and most convenient to the 
place of such commitment, there to be detained for 
trial by such persons as shall be authorized for that 
purpose by any judge of the supreme court, or any 
justice of the peace of the said territory ; or where 
such offenders are British subjects, to cause them to be 
delivered to the nearest or most convenient British 
authorities as hereinbefore provided ; and the expenses 
of such commitment, removal and detention, shall be 
paid in the same manner, as is provided by law in 
respect to the fees of the marshal of the said territory," 

The committee unanimously instructed their chair- 
man to report this bill back to the Senate with the re- 
commendation that it pass. It was then placed in its 
order upon the calendar ; but before it came up for 
consideration as a special order, Lord Ashburton arrived 
from England to enter upon a negotiation touching all 
points of dispute between the two countries — boun- 
daries as well as others ; Oregon as well as Maine. 

In that posture of affairs, it was considered on all 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 239 

hands indelicate (not to say unwise) to press the bill 
to a decision whilst these negotiations were pending. 
They are now over, and a treaty is published to the 
world, between the United States and Great Britain ; 
in which it seems that the question of the Oregon 
Territory has been deferred to some more remote or 
auspicious period for an idtimate decision. He said 
he was contident that there were majorities in both 
branches of Congress in favor of this bill ; and he felt 
equally certain that it would have passed this session 
but for the arrival of Lord Ashbiuton, and the pendency 
of the negotiations which terminated a short period 
since. He should deem it his imperative duty at an 
early day of the coming session to bring in the same 
bill, and press it to a final decision. That the decision 
would be favorable, he did not entertain the shghtest 
doubt ; and he took great ])leasure in making that 
opinion public (as far as his opinion was of any weight), 
for the satisfaction of all those who may take an mterest 
in the occupation of this new and beautiful country, 
the germ of futiue States, to be settled by the Anglo- 
Amercan race, and which will extend our limits from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. 

Agahi Mr. Linn was urged by friends not to press 
the consideration of this bill upon the Senate at this 
session, on account of the negotiations that were then 



240 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

pending between Great Britain and the United States, 
Lord Ashburton then being in Washington as a special 
mmister extraordinary from that government to ours ; 
and again he yielded to their urgent sohcitations against 
his own anxious desire that some measm^e should be 
adopted by Congress to assert and preserve our rights, 
and protect our people in Oregon. 

Early in the next session Dr. Linn, true to the 
pledge he had voluntarily given, not to permit our 
claims to this country to slumber, brought up his bill 
again in the Senate, and pressed it with great ardor 
and perseverance, and on various occasions combated 
the objections made to it by several senators, and urged 
with force and eloquence ; among these were Mr. Cal- 
houn, Mr. Archer, Mr. McDuffie, ]\Ir. Crittenden, Mr. 
Conrad, Mr. Choate, and Mr. Berrien ; but he was 
ably supported by his colleagues, Mr. Benton, Mr. 
Young, Mr. Walker, Mr. Sevier, Mr. Buchanan, and 
Mr. Phelps. 

After much conflict the bill was passed by the 
* Senate, Peb. G, 1843, by a vote of 24 to 22. 

Thus, after laboring incessantly for five years, from 
the 7th of Feb. 1838, when he first brought in a bill 
authorizing the occupation of Oregon, he at last had 
the satisfaction of seeing his bill passed by the Senate, 
and his persevering eflbrts crowned at least with partial 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 241 

success. Well might lie feel a just pride and a throb 
of joy, and well might his friends congratulate him 
upon the passage of that measure he had taken so deep 
and lively an interest in, and the consummation of which 
seemed to be the most important object of his public 
life. Speaking of this measure, Colonel Benton as 
magnanimously as truthfully said in his speech at St. 
Louis, at a meeting of the citizens convened to testify 
their respect for the memory of Dr. Linn, " But how 
can I omit the last great act as yet unfinished, in which 
his whole soul was engaged at the time of his death ? 
The bill for the settlement and occupation of Oregon 
was his, and he carried it through the Senate when his 
colleague, ^v\m now addresses you, coidd not have done 
it. This is another historical truth fit to be made 
known on this occasion, and which is now declared to 
this large and respectable assembly under all the cir- 
cumstances which impart solemnity to the declaration. 
He carried that bill through the Senate, and it was the 
measure of a statesman. Just to the settler, it was 
wise to the government. ****«*■»* 
Alas, that he should not have been spared to put the 
finishing hand to a measure which was to reward the 
emigrant, to protect his countiy, to curl) England, and 
to connect his own name with the foimdation of an 
empire. But it is done ! the unfinished work will go 



la 



242 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

on ; it will be completed, and the name of Linn will 
not be forgotten ; that name will live and be connected 
with Oregon while its banks bear a plant, or its waters 
roll a wave." 

And the work did go on. Dr. Linn had given it 
such an impetus that it could not stop. He had 
aroused the public mind to the importance of securing 
this beautiful and valuable country from the grasp of 
Great Britain. The people demanded that the govern- 
ment should take possession of and occupy it ; that 
it should be secured to us, and to us exclusively ; and 
that an American government should be estabhshed 
there for the protection of American citizens, which has 
been done. That country is now our own exclusively ; 
and out of it have been formed two territories, Oregon 
and Washington, which will ere long come into the 
great republican family of States, and become the seat 
of agriculture, manufactm-es, commerce, learning and 
wealth. 

Well might Col. Benton pronounce the great work 
undertaken by Dr. Linn, and so long persevered in, 
" the measm^e of a statesman." With that measure is 
his name inseparably connected ; and so long as the 
green hills of Oregon and Washington are covered with 
flocks and herds, and their fruitful valleys wave with 
golden harvests, will the name of Linn be held in grate- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 243 

fill remembrance by every American who proudly sur- 
veys the majestic hills, the rich valleys, the noble streams, 
the gigantic forests, and the deep and spacious bays of 
the North-West, and exultingly exclaims, 

" This is my own, my native land." 



CHAPTER V. 

DUELLING. — THE CILLEY DUEL. 

On the 24tli day of February, 1838, took place an 
event in the vicinity of the city of Washington which 
shocked the pubhc mind over the whole country, and 
cast a gloom upon every countenance Avithin the limits 
of the national metropolis. Such was the deep and 
solemn impression made by the tragical event alluded 
to, that it still hngers in the memory of those who were 
then upon the stage of action, and a recurrence to the 
subject again brings up something of the painful emo- 
tions so keenly felt at the time. 

The reader will understand that I allude to the 
death of the Hon, Jonathan Cilley, a member of the 
House of Representatives from the State of Maine, in 
a duel with Mr. Graves, a representative in Congress 
from the State of Kentucky ; commonly called " the 
CiUey duel." 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 245 

Growing as it did out of the heated pohtical con- 
flicts of the day, and taking place between two gentle- 
men between whom there existed no enmity whatever, 
and had been no controversy of any kind, — upon a 
mere punctilio, resulting in the death of one who bore 
malice against no human being, least of all against liim 
by whose hand he fell, who was ecpially free from all 
unkind feeling towards him, eveiy circumstance attend- 
ing the tragedy was calculated to produce deep and 
painful sensations. 

The subject was brought before the House, referred 
to a select committee to investigate and inquire into the 
facts and report to the House, which was done, and a 
bill was brought in, passed, and sent to the Senate for 
the prevention and punishment of duelling in the Dis- 
trict of Colmiibia. This bill having been taken up for 
consideration in the Senate, 

Mr. Clayton expressed his objections to duelling 
in a very pointed manner, and his sincere desire to do 
all in his power to suppress it. He very much doubted, 
however, the efficacy of the bill before them. Such 
was the severity of some of its provisions, that it woidd 
be next to impossible to procure conviction under it. 
One of the provisions sought to make the sending of a 
challenge felony, which was only a misdemeanor in the 
eye of the common law. He admitted the practice of 
duelling to be both illegal and immoral ; yet he con- 



246 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

tended that it was not of that class of crime which 
shoukl subject the offender to the cell of a penitentiary, 
and make him the associate of the vilest felons. There 
was nothing in the offence that was either base, or mean, 
or sordid ; neither were likely to be engaged in it persons 
whom we would dare to send to a penitentiary to be 
classed with thieves and vagabonds. The moral sense 
of the community would be shocked at such a measure, 
and such a law would be rendered a mere nullity from 
the interference of the executive prerogative. He de- 
precated duelHng, and would go all reasonable lengths 
against it, and he thought some legal provision necessary. 
He would vote for the bill as amended by the judiciary 
committee, though he believed it would not have the 
o;ood effect its friends desio-ned. 

Mr. Linn said the senator from Delaware (Mr. 
Clayton) had treated the subject with so much sound 
practical sense, that little else could be said on the sub- 
ject. Wliat community (asked Mr. L.) could be found 
that would pronounce a man either a murderer or a 
felon, who might have chanced to kUl another in fair 
and equal combat ? He was persuaded that no man 
acting on his responsibility as a juror would render 
such a verdict. Many of the States had passed severe 
penal laws in relation to this matter, and yet in what 
State had they been enforced? Other States had 
adopted milder remedies, such as disfranchisement of 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 247 

citizeiisliip, rendering the guilty for ever incapable of 
holding any office of honor, trust or profit ; and such 
laws he maintained had a more wholesome action than 
those severe and unjust enactments, because the one 
was generally carried into effect, while the other were 
but a dead letter upon the statute book. To illustrate 
the effect of public opinion on this subject, j\Ir. L. in- 
stanced a case that had taken place in his own State, 
where a small man, for a supposed offence, was cruelly 
lashed by a large one, the residt of Avhicli was a chal- 
lenge and a duel in which the first assailant fell mortally 
• wounded. The survivor was found guilty under the 
laws of jMissouri, when a petition signed by an immense 
number was presented to the legislature for his pardon, 
and this was granted almost by acclamation. And 
such, said Mr. L., would be the result in all cases where 
the law inflicts penalties against which the public feeling 
revolts. He was aware that duelling was not defensible 
upon the principles of Christianity, neither was war, and 
yet how frequently had war lieen engaged in l)y Chris- 
tian nations. If such a bill coidd be introduced as 
woidd strike at the root of the evil, and one whose 
penalties would be likely to be enforced, he would 
cheerfully give it his support. 

Mr. Smith of Conn, having spoken long and vehe- 
mently in favor of the bill, and denominated duelhsts 
murderers and assassins, 



248 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

Mr. Linn replied, repudiating the idea of calling 
men murderers and felons because tliey had fought 
duels ; some of the purest and best men on earth, "fe^ 
said, had been engaged in them, and were they to be 
so stigmatized ? The question before them was, how 
the practice of duelling could be prevented ? and to 
this he would answer, not by cruel and sanguinary laws 
which would in no instance be carried into effect. He 
thought there were cases of deadly insult which few 
men would not be ready to resent at all risks, whatever 
the penalties aginst duelling might be ; and from the 
warmth the gentleman from Connecticut had exhibited, 
he was quite sm'e he would be one of the last men to 
pass such an insult over unnoticed. 

There was subsequently much discussion upon 
amendments proposed to the bill, in which Mr. Linn 
took part. It finally passed the Senate without a 
division ; its title being, " a bOl to prohibit the giving 
or accepting, within the District of Columbia, of a chal- 
lenge to fight a duel, and for the punishment thereof." 
This became, and is now, a law. Whether this law, 
or the " Cilley duel " has had the effect to render duelling 
less frequent in the District of Columbia, there may be 
differences of opinion; but that no duel has since 
taken place within the District, is a fact well known. 
Several challenges have passed, however, between mem- 
bers of Congress, and one duel (between Mr. Clingman 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 249 

and Mr. Yancey) has been fought outside of the Dis- 
trict ; happily with no injury to either party. 

Dr. Linn said in the course of some remarks upon 
the duelling bill, that if gentlemen were determined to 
fight a duel, this bill would not prevent them ; that 
they could easily invite each other to take tea at some 
place outside the District, or to meet them for some 
other apparently harmless and legitimate pm'pose, but 
with an understanding between them that it was for a 
hostile purpose. And such has been the case in two 
or three instances. Nevertheless it can hardly be 
doubted that the obstacles which the law interposes, 
and the penalties it inflicts have operated, in conjunc- 
tion with public opinion, since " the Cilley duel," to 
greatly, if not entirely, check the practice among mem- 
bers of Congress. It is, however, to be observed that 
the practice of duelling is, and has been for twenty 
years past, on the decrease in every section of the Union. 

It may be the most fitting place here to mention, 
that about three years after this period, namely, in 
1841, Dr. Linn was himself drawn into an afliiir of 
this kind as the friend and second of one of the 
parties. I refer to the well-remembered misunder- 
standing between Mr. Clay, and Col. King of Ala- 
bama. But while he acted as the second of the latter, 
he was the friend of both, and used his best efforts to 
bring about an honorable and satisfactory understand- 



250 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

ing between these distinguislied senators. Happily his 
own, aided by the good offices of Mr. Archer, Mr. 
Preston, and other friends of Mr. Clay, brought about 
mutual explanations and a reconciliation, and averted a 
hostile meeting. 

OFFICIAL REPORTERS. 

Dr. Linn, during the whole ten years he occupied 
a seat in the Senate, devoted himself assiduously to the 
business before the body, and especially to those sub- 
jects that more immediately interested his own consti- 
tuents and the people of the great West. It was ex- 
ceedingly rare that he was absent from his seat when 
a vote was taken; and in his constant attendance, 
fidelity to his duties, and refraining from unnecessarily 
occupying the time of the Senate in desultory talk or 
long and elaborate speeches, he set an example which 
the public have great reason to wish should be closely 
followed by many who now fill the places of those who 
have passed away. Dr. Linn was absent on one occa- 
sion, when a vote by ayes and noes was taken in the 
Senate, on a subject on which he was desirous to re- 
cord his vote. On returning to the Senate Chamber, 
and finding the vote had been taken in his absence, he 
rose, and stated he should have been glad to have 
recorded his vote, and the com-tesy of the Senate, 
might, if appealed to, accord him the privilege of 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 251 

doing so ; nevertheless, as he was absent, and as he 
thought every Senator ought, if he could, to be present 
whenever a vote was taken, he should not ask the pri- 
vilege of voting ; as a reason for his absence, he said he 
had had occasion to step to his committee room to get 
a paper he then needed, not expecting that the vote 
would be so soon taken ; and thus he had deprived 
himself of the privilege of voting. 

Dr. Linn stated truly, and what every Senator 
would bear cheerfid witness to (June 17, 1840), that 
" It was very seldom he trespassed upon the time or 
the patience of the Senate, except on business, and 
then he endeavored to use no more words than were 
barely sufficient to explain to the Senate the subject he 
had in hand, or the object he desired." 

This casual remark, dropped unpremeditatedly, 
presents to us the great rule and maxim of his sena- 
torial life ; and it furnishes us witli the reason why we 
meet with so few speeches from him in the pubhshed 
debates of the Senate, for the time he was a member 
of the body. His purpose was, not to enlarge, elabo- 
rate and expand the language which clothed his ideas, 
like the ample folds which cover the diminutive body 
of some fine lady, but to condense and compress them 
into the fewest words possible. He indulged in no 
ambitious desire to produce an effect or impression upon 
the Senate or the galleries, by any display of rhetoric. 



252 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

" The applause of listening Senates to comraanrl," 

was neither his ambition nor his vocation ; though, from 
the evidences he occasionally gave, no one could doubt 
that had he been ambitious of acquiring reputation as 
an orator, he could easily have attained that object, 
possessing as he did, a large fund of scientific, literary, 
critical, and historical information, a lively imagina- 
tion, correct taste, an easy and copious flow of lan- 
guage, a good voice, an impressive presence, and an 
agreeable manner. 

On the occasion of some complaint being made by 
senators, of the incorrect manner in which their re- 
marks were often reported, Dr. Linn said he did not 
rise to make any complaint against the reporters on 
either side of the House, but to say that the discussion 
going on, proved conclusively to his mind, that the 
reporters should be sworn officers of the Senate, and 
compelled to furnish each member with notes of what 
he said. " Our constituents," said Mr. L., " have a 
right to know what we say, as well as what we do. 
The journal showed all their votes, but what was said 
in support or explanation of them, went to the public 
in a very imperfect manner. He thought that the 
body would see the propriety of his suggestion. If 
this plan were adopted, each member would have notes 
furnished him, and then the responsibility would no 
longer rest on the reporters, but where it should, upon 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 253 

those who spoke. Every cUfficulty would be obviated 
by the course indicated, and each member hekl respon- 
sible for the sentiments, opinions and facts, stated by 
him in debate. He said he would l^e glad if some 
member woidd move a resolution to appoint a com- 
mittee to inquire into the expediency of making 
reporters sworn officers of the Senate. 

In pursuance of this suggestion from the Senator 
from Missouri, ]\Ir. Walker said, he submitted the fol- 
loAving resolution : 

Resolved, That a select committee be appointed 
to inquire into the propriety of selecting an equal num- 
ber of reporters, of both political parties, who shall be 
sworn to report correctly, as far as practicable, the pro- 
ceedings of this body. 

Though the Doctor's plan was not then carried into 
effect, it has since been adopted with modifications, and 
is now in operation. Every word now uttered in 
either House of Congress, is taken down with wonder- 
ful accuracy and despatch. 

PRE-EMPTION TO SETTLERS ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

In the sul)ject of Pre-emption to settlers on the 
Public Lands in the new States, Dr. Linn manifested 
a warm interest, and devoted to it much time. There 
were few of greater concern to the hardy pioneers who 



254 LIFE OF DR LINN. 

pushed forward beyond the conveniences of roads, 
bridges, settlements, neighborhoods, schools, churches, 
and medical aid, subduing the wilderness, marking out 
the way and preparing it for the great wave of emigra- 
tion, which advanced with such mighty force and 
steady onward power in then' rear. The subject came 
frequently before Congress, and was much and ably 
discussed. On the one side, it was contended, that 
these pioneers were trespassers upon the public lands, 
that they went upon them in their own wrong, in defi- 
ance of law, and for the purpose of securing for them- 
selves and their families the choicest locations ; that, if 
they sufi'ered hardships and privations, no one, least of 
all, had the government requested them to expose 
themselves to these, or to push forward beyond and in 
advance of the great stream of emigration and settle- 
ment, and locate upon the lands before they were sm'- 
veyed and brought into market. It w^as also urged 
against the pre-emption system, that it was giving aw^ay 
our choicest lands to foreigneis, to whom it was an in- 
vitation to come and take them, almost without money 
and without price ; and thus, in a manner, building up 
whole States with persons of foreign birth. 

Mr. Benton, having introduced " a bill to establish 
a permanent prospective pre-emption system," sus- 
tained it in an able, argumentative speech, in reply to 
which Mr. Mangum spoke at length. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 255 

Mr. Linn then defended the bill and advocated the 
pre-emption system of disposing of the public lands. 
He said the comitry had been settled on the pre-emp- 
tive system from the beginning; and he wished to 
keep the beginning, the middle, and the end together. 
In allusion to the epithets apphed by some gentlemen 
to the settlers, of " squatters" and " land-stealers," and 
of the opinions of others in contradiction to his state- 
ment, that a small civil force, and an enforcement of the 
laws, would preserve the pubhc land from encroach- 
ment, he said that it was a scriptural injunction to 
man, to possess the earth and replenish it ; but if it 
were " land stealing," this was a nation of land stealers 
from the beginning, for they had either stolen it or 
cheated the Indians out of it ; and, therefore, the 
appellation would apply equally to their forefathers. 
That the movement of the people would be onward, 
he again asserted ; and he denied that the laws were 
a sufficient safeguard of the i)ublic lands. Jurors 
could not be found to convict in such cases, which were 
uniformly decided against the government, at an ex- 
pense of many thousand doUars. Would they, then, 
send an army to destroy the " squatters? " If he had 
an enemy in the world (and he believed he had not 
many), he woidd wish him no greater infliction tlian the 
scorpion stings of conscience mth which the execution 
of such a commission would be succeeded. It was not 



256 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

uiiusual by legislation, to lieal breaches m the law. 
Charters were sometimes violated, and legislation was 
resorted to to heal the breach. Here, then, was a 
breach of the law by the settlers, and they were asked 
to pass that bill to heal that breach." 

The bill having been ably discussed by Mr. Benton, 
Mr. Clay of Alabama, Mr. Mangnm, Mr. Buchanan, 
]\Ir. Clay of Ky., Mr. Wright, and other senators, 

Mr. Linn rose to make a few observations, and to 
notice some of the remarks of the honorable senator 
from Kentucky (Mr. Clay), which referred to what 
he, Mr. L., had said on a former day, in regard to the 
application of force to carry into effect the prohibitory- 
laws against those who settled on, and used the 
public lands, and for whose benefit pre-emption laws 
had been passed by Congress from time to time. Mr. 
L. had then expressed the opinion, that it was physi- 
cally impossible to remove, by force, those who are 
usually termed " squatters " upon the public domain. 
He had often expressed that opinion here and elsewhere ; 
it was the settled conviction of his mind. And he now 
put the question to the honorable senator from Ky. 
(My. Clay), whether he would, were he in the execu- 
tive chair of the United States, wield the military 
power of the government, in an endeavor to dispossess 
them ? " He would like to see the man who would 
avow such an intention. The orders undoubtedly 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 257 

might be issued ; but could the officei-s of the army 
execute them, even if they would ? He apprehended 
not. On this subject it might be well to advert to 
what had been said so well, by his friend from Arkansas 
(Mr. Sevier), the other day, of this experiment, when 
tried only in a very smaU way. Orders were given to 
the military, and the officers attempted, nay, did remove 
the settlers from what is called Langley's Purchase, 
which had been ^ATcnched from the Territory of Arkan- 
sas by a treaty with some tribes of Indians within the 
borders of an old State, and for the benefit and accom- 
modation of that State. The district of country thus 
severed from the territory was three hundi'ed miles in 
length and forty miles mde. The officers had no 
sooner executed their orders, and turned their backs, 
than the inhabitants returned to the lands Avliich they 
claimed. Their houses had been burned ; they rebuilt 
them. Their crops had been cut up and destroyed ; 
they replanted them. They Avere chiven off a second 
time, and a second tune they returned. Thus they 
persevered untd the government gave up the contest ; 
and finally granted to each family as an indemnity for 
their losses, three hundred and twenty acres of land ; 
whilst those who had respected the laws, and quietly 
quitted their homes, in obedience to the orders of the 
government, will receive but one hundred and sixty 

acres, by the biU which passed this House only a few 
17 



258 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

days ago. Now, if the power of the government could 
not enforce its prohibitions in the single State of Arkan- 
sas, at that time a feeble and dependent territory, how 
was it likely to succeed through the extended line from 
Lake Superior to the Sabine River ? Before such an 
operation could ever be attempted, you must augment 
the number of your army, for the whole military force 
of the country, as it now stands, would be totally in- 
adequate to accomplish such an object. The very idea 
has in it something ludicrous, if not Quixotic, to those 
acquainted with the nature of the subject. It would 
certainly be a most amusing spectacle to behold our 
gallant and chivah-ic officers, occupied in driving the 
helpless Avomen and inoffensive children from their 
homes and habitations, whilst their husbands and fathers 
were ready with their rifles to pour upon them certain 
destruction from the woods and thickets ! The very 
attempt would lead to their extermination, thereby 
adducing a new proof that there is but one step from 
the sublime to the ridiculous. The truth is, that the 
law prohibiting such settlement was practically a dead 
letter, and must remain so. 

In our early history, there was no law prohibiting 
our people from settling where they pleased on the un- 
occupied public lands. The first law upon that subject 
was passed in 1807, and seemed to be intended against 
those who claimed lands mider the French and Spanish 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 259 

grants in Louisania, and the object was to prevent 
those who had only an inchoate title under such 
grants, from going upon the public domain, and locating 
and suneying such claims as had not been survei/ed ; 
and a most iniquitous law it was. He would speak 
with respect of the legislation of Congress, but such 
was his opinion of that law, and he conceived it might 
be easily proved. He now repeated his assertion, that 
the attempt to pass any law to restrain the American 
people from settling on the public lands, was worse 
than useless. Congress might employ itself in passing 
such edicts as often as it pleased, but it never could 
have one of them effectually enforced. 

As to pre-emption laws, there were now whole dis- 
tricts occupied under them, wliich would have remained 
a howling wilderness for years but for the settlers having 
preceded your surveyors, and it is now an important 
policy to bring those lands into market. They would 
yield the treasury millions of dollars for the benefit of 
the country. 

Antecedent to the year 1820, the pubhc lands were 
sold upon a credit system or a system of part cash — 
one quarter, and the remainder credit. This was in 
its operation a pre-emption law, because it enabled the 
poor man to take possession of a choice piece of land on 
the payment of a few dollars, and allowed him the 
period of five years to pay up the remainder by instal- 



260 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

ments, wliicli lie could easily accomplisli from the pro- 
duce of his labor. The general principle of pre-emp- 
tion itself was the principal plan of the old thirteen 
States of the revolution, which enabled them success- 
fully to battle with the mother country in the revo- 
lution. 

Virginia had her pre-emption laws which extended 
to Kentucky at an early period. Much of the lands 
situated in the Green River country sold for a few 
cents the acre under the head-right occupancy, which 
was no more nor less than a pre-emption law. By the 
old laws of Pennsylvania, and most of the other Atlan- 
tic States, a mere nominal payment of " a penny " or 
" a peppercorn," or the girding a few trees, or the 
building of a log cabin, was considered an ample equiv- 
alent for the land. The public lands were not then 
expected to produce any amount of money ; that was 
not the object in view, but to get them settled as 
speedily as possible ; nor woidd they ever have yielded 
the government a single dollar, but for the enterpris- 
ing, hardy settlers, who literally bmied themselves in 
the woods and wilds, and who, at the expense of priva- 
tion, hardship, suffering and hard labor, prepared the 
wilderness for becoming the abode of such as followed 
them in the second line of emigration, and who pre- 
ferred to purchase " improvements," rather than go 
into the wilderness to wake them. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 261 

Regarding this question in an enlarged, national 
point of view, it appeared to him that every reasonable 
encouragement should be given to the extension of our 
settlements to aid in the development of om- resources. 
Under the invitation of the government, already ad- 
verted to, the extensive and fertile regions in Upper Ilh- 
nois, Wisconsin and Iowa, were rapidly peopled. The 
floiu'islung and populous towns of Galena, Dubuque, 
and many others, sprang into existence like magic, and 
in a few years the wilderness was made to blossom like 
a garden. Look for one moment at the results. This 
people dug from the bowels of the earth hidden riches, 
and from that time have increased the production of 
lead until it amounts annually to twenty or thirty mil- 
lions of pounds, being perhaps sufficient to render us 
independent of foreign nations for this important 
material necessary to our defence in time of war, and 
entering largely into consumption in the arts. Massa- 
chussetts and other manufacturing States are as much 
interested as we of the AVest are, or more even than 
we are, as they supply us with manufactm'ed articles in 
return for the raw materials which we send them. 

Mr. Linn here referred to Daniel Boon, the hardy 
pioneer first of Kentucky, and next of Missouri, who, 
impelled by his love of danger, sought out a lonely spot 
in the latter State on the extreme border of civilization, 
"squatted" on the public land, and contributed to its 



262 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

defence. Mr. L. regretted that this hardy and adven- 
turous pioneer had not Hved a few years longer to see 
this broad Union extending itself from one great ocean 
to the other. 

Boon, Mr. L. said, Avas a li\dng type, an impersona- 
tion, as it were, of the spirit which had settled this con- 
tinent. He rejoiced to see the same spirit in full force 
and operation to this hom\ God forbid he should ever 
see it stopped; but that could not be done. The 
whole force of the government could not arrest it. He 
thought that, as Americans, we ought to feel proud as we 
witnessed the onward march of the Anglo-American 
race and its rapid progress for the benefit of the human 
family. He should rejoice to see it scale the rugged 
tops of the Rocky Mountains, and pour itself into the 
fertile valleys of the Oregon country. Let the race of 
free American pioneers go onward West, carrying their 
love of liberty and all their free and beneficent institu- 
tions with them ; and he would encourage their progress 
by every proper means, to the utmost verge of the con- 
tinent. 

In no one had the hardy pioneer of the West, the 
inmate of the log cahin, a more true, reliable, and de- 
voted friend than in Dr. Linn. For them he seemed 
to feel more than an ordinary interest, and never did a 
subject come up which in any way concerned them that 
he did not watch it with jealous care, and see that their 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 263 

interests were duly provided for. Had they all been 
his OAVTi children he could hardly have manifested greater 
concern for them, and acted the part of a more watch- 
fid guardian. And it was this faithful watchfidness of 
their interests, and his ever prompt and earnest advocacy 
of their rights, that won for him the devoted attach- 
ment of those stalwart, brave, industrious, unpolished, 
yet warm-hearted sons of the wilderness and the prairie, 
who well knew that, though they were far away from 
the Halls of Congress, and coidd not make their Avants 
and grievances known, there was one there who woidd 
never sit in silence and sec them wronged ; and hence 
it was that the people of Iowa and Wisconsin relied on 
Dr. Linn, and considered him as much their senator 
as if they had elected him, and he was responsible to 
them. But as he was not responsible to them and they 
coidd have no voice in re-electing him to the Sen- 
ate, what could have prompted him thus to take so 
lively and active an interest in their behalf ? It was, 
first, a warm and generous natm-e, which was amply 
repaid for doing good by the consciousness of having 
done his duty ; and secondly, the deep interest which 
Dr. Linn felt and took in every thing which concerned 
the great AVest, A^nth which he was and had been, from 
birth up, identified. It was his country, and not only 
his country, but his particular portion of it, his home, 
and had been the home of his ftithers, by whose blood 



264 LIFE or DR. LINN. 

it had been won and possessed. The fathers of many 
of those who now filled the West, had bravely fought 
side by side with his ancestors, father and grandfather, 
had been mutually roused by the terrible midnight 
war-whoop of the savage, had mutually and despe- 
rately defended their wives, childi'en and homes, and 
had mingled their blood together on many a desperate 
battle-field, and in many an ambush and hand-to-hand 
encounter. The strong bonds of attachment which 
are formed in times of mutual danger, trial and peril, 
— ^by mutual suffering, and by that interchange of 
good offices, kindnesses and sympathies, which, while 
it does honor to, softens, improves, and ennobles the 
human heart, are the most enduring of all human ties 
except those of love and family affection ; and such 
were the bonds that once united the people of the 
West, as well as those of " the old thirteen States ; " 
and it was the remembrance of the past, and the influ- 
ence of its history, which so knit Dr. L. to all who 
were identified with that section of the country ; they 
were to him as brothers, not as strangers ; and his so- 
licitude for their welfare, his watchfulness of their in- 
terests, his defence of their rights, his indignant repel- 
ling of all imputations cast upon them, such as " land 
stealers," and the like, were amply repaid, first, by the 
consciousness of having performed his duty, and sec- 
ondly, by the grateful attachment manifested for him. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 265 

by the warm-hearted, though rough-clad, and rough- 
mannered people of the West, who still moiu-n his loss 
and cherish his memx)ry in affectionate and grateful 
remembrance: and nowhere more warmly than in 
that far off land whose shores are washed by the waves, 
whose hills are fanned, and whose golden fields are gen- 
tly swayed to and fro in light and shade by the refresh- 
ing breezes from the almost boundless Pacific. 

The following letter from the Hon. Silas Wright to 
Mrs. Linn, shows the esthnation in which Dr. L. was 
held by his brother senators, at least by those of his 
own party. 

Senate Chamber, Washington City, 

March 10, 1841. 

My dear Mrs. Linn, — I have been trying to find 
time to Avrite you a long letter, from the 1st. of Jan. 
to this time, and you will say the effoi-t must have 
been a faint one, or the letter would have reached you 
before this day ; my good Lady, you are to get no let- 
ter now ; I have so much to say to you that if I should 
commence a letter many a duty for which my friends 
here yet hold me to a rigid perfonnance, would be 
neglected ; we are now in the minority here, and I 
have looked forward to that time as one of leisure to 
us all, and we have not found that leisiure yet. I now 
write to you from my seat in the Senate, and in the 



26G LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

hearing of one of the most exciting debates to which 
I ever Hstened ; so I must leave you to the Doctor to 
report all we have done here, .but I cannot resist 
dropping you a few lines to make you a little proud 
about your good husband, whom you know that I love 
like a brother, and I do assure you that Dr. Linn has 
done himself great honor in his eloquent and heart- 
touching debates in the Senate during the short 
session. I am so happy to find that he has gained 
confidence in himself, which has made him become 
one of the most powerful, useful, and truly eloquent 
debaters in our Body. You know that he has been 
working like a slave in attending to the private busi- 
ness of Missomi, and has long resisted the entreaties 
of Mr. Buchanan and myself, with your ardent Avishes, 
to participate more in the debates of the Senate : not 
in the habit of public-speaking, the Dr. feared that he 
might not do it well ; he must now feel the great injus- 
tice that he has done himself, and that long since, had 
it not been for his sensitive modesty, that he would 
have taken the stand that he now holds in the 
Senate, as one of the most powerful members of that 
body, and most certainly possesses more popularity 
than any other member of Congress. You know, my 
dear Mrs. Linn, that I never flatter, and was I not 
fully aware of the truth of all I say about my kind 
friend the Doctor, I would not write it to you. I 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 267 

have often -washed that every Missourian could see 
how your good husband labors for the prosperity of 
their noble State ; then indeed would they know how 
to appreciate the wonderful industry of the hardest- 
working member of Congress. — One more word and, 
my good lady, I must finish this hasty communication. 
The President sent us your note to read Avitli the in- 
junction for its preseiTation, and to be returned to 
him ; so you see how much value he attaches to it, and 
you must now permit me to say that you have a very 
happy talent in communicating your friendly feelings, 
and at the time your note reached him, every evidence 
of kindly feeling from his friends was most gratefully 
felt. He is now a private citizen, and let me say to 
you, that I tmly think he has sustained his fall from 
the highest human elevation to that which he now 
holds, in a manner, and with an equanimity of temper 
and spirit, which adds more to his valuable reputation 
than all the acts of his previous life. But my good 
Mrs. Linn, you know hoio much I am his friend, and 
if I am now extravagant in his praise, you will make 
an allowance, and in every event I beg you to believe 
that 

I am equally your friend, 

Silas Wright, Jr. 

To Mrs. Elizabeth A. R. Linn, St. Genevieve. 



268 LIFE or DR. LINN. 

Board of Commissioners on Private Claims. 

Bills had been introduced during several sessions 
of Congress to establish a Board of Commissioners to 
hear and examine claims against the United States, 
which had in every instance received the support of 
Dr. Linn, and in some instances he had spoken in favor 
of their passage. At the last session of the 26th Con- 
gress, a bill of this kind having been introduced, and 
come up for a third reading, it was earnestly opposed 
by Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Mangum and other senators. 
Mr. Linn advocated its passage ; he said the bill had 
passed at the last three or four sessions after full dis- 
cussion, besides being four times reported upon, — - 
twice by the Committee on Claims, and twice by the 
Judiciary Committee ; and he was therefore surprised 
that the senator (Mr. Calhoun) should again oppose it, 
as he had done year after year, without offering any 
measure as a substitute. 

Mr. L. contended that great injustice was now 
done to the private claimant by the present system, 
than which none could be worse in its operation, and 
until something better should be proposed as a remedy 
for the evils now felt, he would support the present bill. 
He regretted that honorable senators had not seen the 
distress of the widows and children of land claimants, 
occasioned by the delay in the disposal of their claims ; 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 269 

for lie was sure if tliey had, they would give to this 
subject that disposition which would lead to a speedier 
determination of private claims, wliile a due regard 
should be paid both to the rights of the citizen and 
the government. 

He stated that there were 1500 or 2000 private 
bills of various kinds reported in the House of Repre- 
sentatives at the last session ; and he himself reported 
a bill six years before which had not yet been acted 
on. He did not impute neglect of duty to any one ; 
but he was satisfied that, in the first place, this body 
was too large and too transient, and in the second 
place, too political to despatch business of that kind in 
the prompt and speedy manner that it ought to be dis- 
posed of, and to give to all cases that examination and 
scmtiny which are necessary to a just understanding 
of them. The questions involved in private claims 
were sometimes of an abstmsc and intricate character, 
and time was necessary to acquire such a knoAvledge 
of the facts and principles involved, as would enable 
senators to come to right decisions upon them. Some- 
times senators here would acquire that knowledge, but 
circumstances might operate a postponement of the 
action of the Senate upon the claim, when the terms 
of those senators who had made themselves acquainted 
with the case might expire, or, if they held to the doc- 
trine of instmctions, they might be instructed out of 



270 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

their seats, which would then be occupied by new men, 
who would have to go through anew the same course 
and labor of investigation that their predecessors had, 
and so on for years. He thought it due to claimants, 
and due to good faith, that justice should neither be 
refused nor unreasonably delayed. It Avas cruel to 
keep men attending here year after year and generation 
after generation, as they attended the Coiu-t of Chan- 
cery in England, appealing to Congress for the pay- 
ment of what is justly due, and made sick and dis- 
heartened by hope deferred. For his part, he said, his 
profession, as well as his habits of thought, led him to 
look at and regard individual suffering ; but there 
were some who appeared to act like the soldier on the 
field of battle, who treads indiscriminately and with- 
out a thought for their suffering, alike on friend and 
foe, in the pursuit of his object, or in the discharge of 
his duty. 

After further discussion in which Dr. L. earnestly 
endeavored to secure its passage, the bill was laid on 
the table, and of course was defeated. But though, 
as in the case of Oregon, Dr. Linn did not live to wit- 
ness the success of a measiu'e he so warmly advocated 
and deemed of so much importance to individuals as 
well as just to the Government, yet the time came, 
many years after his voice had been hushed in the 
grave, when a measure similar to the one he advocated, 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 271 

— differing only in being called a " Court of Claims " 
instead of a " Board of Claims," became a law, and is 
now in full operation. That the final passage of a law 
establishing the Court of Claims was brought about 
in some measure by his advocacy and that of others 
of such a measure years before, no one acquainted with 
the habits of the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives, and the slow progress measures of a general 
character make in those bodies, can doubt. Time is 
required for such things to matm-e ; and discussion is 
as necessaiy to their success as ploughing, harrowing, 
&c., is for the production of a crop of wheat. 

Swamp, or Drowned Lands. 

Among other matters of public importance and 
interesting to the people of the West, which occupied 
the attention of Dr. Linn, was that of draining the 
extensive marshes, lakes, lagoons and swamps, to be 
found on the Mississippi River and some of its tiibu- 
taries, caused by an overflow of these streams in the 
spring and summer annually. They were fruitfid 
sources of those chills and fevers, and sometimes of 
malignant bilious fevers, with which all in their vicinity 
and for many miles around were annually visited, and 
which, some seasons, prove so fatal. As a physician 
of large experience. Dr. L. knew the importance of 
removing the cause of these malignant diseases and 



272 LIFE or DR. LINN. 

restoring salubrity to the atmosphere. With that 
view, and as he well knew the government could not 
undertake an enterprise of the kind, he turned his 
attention to the subject and brought in a bill by which 
to accomplish the pm-pose he had so much at heart. 
The following is the bill : 

A bill to sm-render to the States of Missomi and 
Arkansas alternate sections of certain public lands, 
reported as not worth the expense of survey, for the 
purpose of increasing the value of the public domain. 

Be it enacted, &c., That there be, and hereby are, 
granted to the States of Missouri and Arkansas, re- 
spectively, every alternate section of the public land 
situate within the counties hereafter stated, which liave 
been reported by the deputy-surveyors to the surveyors- 
general, as not worth the expense of survey, upon the 
condition that all the moneys arising from the sale of 
said lands be expended, under the direction of the 
Legislatures of those States respectively, in the improve- 
ment of the water courses running through the said 
public lands, by the construction of canals and bridges, 
removal of rafts and other obstructions to their naviga- 
tion, for the purpose of draining and preventing inun- 
dations of the said lands, to wit : to the State of Mis- 
souri, each alternate section within the counties of 
Cape Girardeau, Scott, Wayne, Stoddard, and New 
Madrid ; and to the State of Arkansas, each alternate 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 273 

section within the comities of Mississippi, Crittenden, 
Saint Francis, Poinsett, Green and Randolph, respec- 
tively. 

Mr. Linn said that this bill provided for the accom- 
phshment of objects alike beneficial to the giver and 
the receiver ; but the people of the far Western States 
had on certahi occasions, when the subject of the pub- 
lic lands occupied tlie attention of this body, been 
stigmatized as " land pirates," " plunderers of the pub- 
lic lands," &c. ; so that a member from that section of 
the country always felt some trepidation in bringing 
forward any proposition relating to the public domain. 
He trusted, however, that the beneficent piu-pose sought 
to be accomplished by the measure he had proposed, 
would conunend the bill to the favorable consideration 
of honorable senators representing all sections of the 
country. 

Tlie district of country embraced within the bill 
was, with few exceptions, a very extensive land tract of 
alluvion, at times almost entuely overflowed by the 
waters of the Mississippi River, the main and little St. 
Prancis, and the Castor, (which run through its whole 
length nearly parallel Avith the Mississippi,) and also 
with numy smaller streams which fall into it from the 
neighboring high grounds, all of which find their way 
to the Father of AVaters through lakes, lagoons, and 

filthy quagmires. It has, doubtless, for ages been 

18 



274 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

subject to inundation ; but this lias been more par- 
ticularly the case since the earthquakes of 1811 and 
1812, the focus of which seemed to be placed in this 
basin, and the vibrations of which rachated to the ex- 
treme verge of the republic. 

The transforming effects of these mighty pheno- 
mena were manifested in this district by the upheav- 
ing of the bed of the Mississippi, staying the course of 
its waters for several hours and causing them to over- 
flow its banks ; by which broad and deep lakes, sixty 
miles in length, were made, where stood the day before 
magnificent forests of cypress and other trees ; the 
bottom of the river St. Francis was thrown up, and 
its waters scattered over a wide space ; and dry ground 
was formed where swamps and lakes existed before ; 
extensive areas, sunk below the general level, were 
subsequently filled with water ; craters were opened, 
from which were vomited mud, sand, and coal, and 
many other effects were produced, to detail which is 
not now necessary. 

The lakes and marshes are all connected with each 
other and with the St. Francis, by sinuses or bayous, 
receiving its overflowing waters and those of the Mis- 
sissippi River, which annually inundate hundreds of 
thousands of acres, equalling in fertility any soil in 
the world. 

The St. Francis and its tributaries, which course 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 275 

this tract, are choked up with rafts like those on the 
Red River, with fallen timber, drift wood, and other 
obstructions. Such is also the case with the bayous 
which connect the St. Francis with the marshes and 
lakes, and the lakes ^^th each other. Bv remo\"ing 
these rafts in the St. Francis River, and the drift wood 
and fallen timber in the bayous, and by deepening the 
connexions between the lakes, which would serve as so 
many canals — the principal feeder of which Avould be 
the St. Francis — much standing water would be liber- 
ated, and a continuous stream would then flow on 
through all these different inoscidating branches to the 
Mississippi and thereby reclaim large portions of this 
rich ten-it ory, in a few years to be covered with a dense 
population, where noio there is nothing but a melan- 
choly waste, inhabited by savage beasts and venomous 
reptiles, and infecting the neighboring counties by its 
noisome exlialations. 

In its present condition your surveyors have tunied 
from portions of it in utter despair, as uninviting, un- 
healthful, and useless. Although it has been the the- 
atre of the grandest and most destructive operations of 
nature, and is seamed all over with marks of Divine 
wrath, it is stUl blessed with a mild climate and great 
fertility of soil, and is of easy access to the ocean ; and 
with the transforming effects of man's industry, will,' 
like Holland, become a busy scene of prosperity and 



276 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

happiness, and, perhaps, equally as remarkable for its 
rivers and canals. 

Will Congress have the enli(/litened selfishness to 
grant the aid necessary to render its oimi property of 
some value ? The whole of this tract, however, is not 
affected by the periodical inundations. There are 
ridges of forty or fifty miles in length, above the reach 
of the water at its greatest height; there are also 
islands of rock, of various heights and dimensions, 
rising out of this marsh, like islands in the ocean ; but 
so surrounded by water as to be cut off from all commu- 
nication with each other and with the Mississippi, 
except in boats which must be navigated through 
dense forests and tangled jungles ; in consequence of 
which these bodies of fertile lands are almost tenant- 
less. 

The opening of all the different sluices to give 
vent to the accumulating waters, cutting canals, build- 
ing bridges, throwing up dykes, draining marshes, &c., 
would eventually reclaim the whole or nearly the whole, 
and fit it for the abode of our people whose energies 
bid defiance to every thing but impossibilities. 

The objects contemplated by the bill are of great 
importance to the citizens of Missouri and Arkansas. 
The Legislatures of both States have sent memorials 
here upon the subject ; and the question again pre- 
sents itself : Shall all this work necessary to make the 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 277 

tract useful, be throAvn upon the people living in tliat 
section, who feel a deep interest in the undertaking? 
or, will the Government extend its aid by contributing 
a portion of this (at present) unproductive domain 
towards this object ? It might with much reason be 
urged that the entu-e tract had better be granted to the 
States in which it lies, than that it should remain in its 
present deplorable condition. But it will be perceived 
that a grant only of each alternate section is asked for ; 
and shoidd the grant be refused, there is little proba- 
bilitv that, for a centurv to come, the Government Avill 
make any effort to reclaim this land. Will it, then, 
be so \mgenerous as to throw upon individuals a labor 
which it should undertake itself? 

This great alluvion stretches from Cape Girardeau 
in Missouri, to Helena in Arkansas — a distance of 
three hundred and fifty miles in length, and from thirty 
to fifty in breadth ; and with the exception of a narrow 
belt lying along tlie borders of the Mississippi, and 
certain isolated spots scattered throughout, may be con- 
sidered as worse than useless — nay, a positive nuisance. 

Mr. Linn said, that the inhabitants of Southern 
Missouri had for years been looking anxiously for the 
Government to take some steps to clear the St. Francis, 
Big, Black and Current Rivers, of the obstructions in 
the way of successful navigation. He had brought the 
subject repeatedly before Congress, and, in 1 836, an 



278 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

appropriation was made for the examination of these 
streams. An officer, Captain Guion, had made a hasty 
survey late in the autumn and had made a report, which 
Mr. L. now caused to be read ; and having been read, 
Mr. L. proceeded : 

The engineer examined the river St. Francis, and 
the country through which it passes, at a very unpro- 
pitious season, and the report is to be taken with many 
grains of allowance, especially, when speaking of the 
impracticability of making certain portions of the St. 
Francis navigable. 

But even admitting that the difficulties in removing 
obstacles and giving to the St. Francis a permanent 
channel in certain points were insurmountable, still, 
much could be done to improve the water communica- 
tion. Black River is a large and deep tributary of 
White Biver, and navigable to the only "raft " in it at 

all seasons of the vear. Remove this one obstacle and 

•J 

boats could ascend it and its principal tributary (the 
Current) to the copper mines in Missouri, at all seasons 
with small boats. 

But, sir, the beneficial effects of removing the 
" rafts " in the St. Francis and Big Black Rivers, and 
the redeeming, from periodical inundation such an ex- 
tensive surface of rich alluvion, do not stop here. By 
removing the obstructions in the way to the navigation 
of the St. Francis and Black Rivers, you will be en- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 279 

abled to reach by water, the very centre of the great 
mineral region of Missouri, which is drained by these 
rivers and their tributaries, and which is of unparalleled 
richness in copper, zinc, iron, lead, manganese, and 
many other mineral substances, and thereby add greatly 
to the value of the public lands. Will not Congress, 
then, act the part, in this matter, of a liberal and pro- 
vident landlord, and embrace this opportunity and the 
proposed means to improve its own domain ? " 

Mr. Sevier expressed his satisfaction that his friend 
from Missouri had interested himself in this important 
subject. He coidd say, from personal knowledge, tliat 
the views he had presented were entirely correct ; and 
that the tract of countiy proposed to be granted, in 
part, was, in its present condition, Avholly unavailable 
to the Government. 

The bill was then referred to the Committee on 
Public Lands, but no further action appears to have been 
taken upon it during the session. But a bill was a few 
years after brought in and passed, by which the United 
States surrendered all the swamp, or inundated lands, 
to the States in which they were situated respectively, 
a measm-c which has resulted in the reclamation and 
draining of hundreds of thousands of acres of land 
which was utterly valueless to the Government, and a 
positive nuisance to large tracts of country around, on 
account of the malaria which arose from its putrid 



280 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

marshes and lagoons, and spread itself for miles around, 
carrying the seeds of disease and death wherever it 
lighted. The measure was also intended to enable the 
States bordering on the Mississippi River, to erect dikes 
along its banks to prevent the annual overflow which 
inundates so large a tract of country, and sometimes 
does great damage by forming new channels for the 
river. Few measures have been productive of more 
real benefits to those sections of the country imme- 
diately interested than this ; and had Dr. Linn lived, 
he would have effected it instead of leaving its accom- 
plishment to others ; but having initiated it, and pointed 
out the way and the great importance of the measure, 
it may, without injustice to those who followed him, 
be claimed as his own. True, others might have 
thought of it and brought it forward ; and so might 
some other person than Professor Morse, have been, in 
time, the author of the Magnetic Telegraph ; but no 
other did till he led the way ; it was then, after his 
death, easy to follow, and take up what he had left un- 
completed. 

In common with tlie party to which he belonged. 
Dr. Linn was strongly opposed to what was denomi- 
nated " the Distribution Act," which provided for the 
distribution of the proceeds of the sales of Public 
Lands, and which was a wldg measure. Dr. L. thought 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 281 

that these proceeds, so far as they were not needed to 
defray the expenses, or to pay the debts of the General 
Government, shoukl be apphed to strengthen the 
common defence of the country ; and he therefore in- 
troduced a bill in December, 1841, to repeal the dis- 
tribution sections of the act mentioned, and pledging 
those proceeds to pm-poses of national defence. 

Mr. L. expressed his views in regard to the Dis- 
tribution Act, to which he was opposed : he thouglit it 
an nidirect mode of assuming the State debts. It was 
known that this country had an immense extent of sea 
coast and territorial border, stretching from the At- 
lantic to the Pacific, to protect, requiring a large ex- 
penditure ; and it was not to be denied that its foreign 
relations were in a precarious situation ; that at a 
moment's warning a war might be precipitated upon 
us ; yet they had frittered away the means of national 
defence, and now hesitated to retrace their steps, when 
prudence, policy and duty, demanded the retraction. 
It was said, that when the crisis should come, the States 
would be ready to supply the General Government Avith 
the means of defence ; but he thought it was the better 
policy for the Government to prepare itself for any 
crisis of this kind, so that it need not be dependent 
upon the States when it came. 

Mr. L. had suggested that the bill be referred to 
the Committee on Military Aftairs, as the Connnittee 



282 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

on Public Lands were opposed to it and already com- 
mitted against it. 

Mr. Calhoun was in favor of referring it to a 
special committee. 

Mr. Pierce rose to express his gratification, tliat 
thus early in the session something had been proposed 
in behalf of national defences, a matter so long neglected, 
while every section of the Union had been agitated and 
embroiled with contests for party supremacy. The 
proposition of his friend from Missouri (Mr. Linn) 
gave earnest of patriotic, and at the same time, of 
prudent and judicious action upon one of the most 
important questions that could possibly claim the 
attention of the republic. Whether the means of 
defence were to be derived from the public lands or 
from any other source, it was a clear case that the 
country could not be left longer in its present condi- 
tion. It had no adequate preparation from one ex- 
tremity of the seaboard to the other, to defend itself 
against aggression. And let it be remembered, that 
aggression, if resolved upon at this day, with the appli- 
cation of steam to ocean navigation, and the improve- 
ments in military science, must, in the nature of 
things, be sudden and tremendous. * * * * * 

No gentleman could doubt that, in our present 
defenceless state, the only power from which at present 
we had any thing to apprehend, might and probably 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 283 

would destroy, laying aside all considerations of the 
loss of life and incalculable amount of lunnan suffer- 
ing, more property in a single night — in a single city 
— than would be 'required to place ourselves in a con- 
dition of comparative protection and security. It had 
been said by gentlemen distinguished in the naval as 
wxU as land senice, that we were not at this moment 
relatively better prepared for a conflict A\-ith Great 
Britain than we were at the commencement of the 
late war, thirty years ago. The nation felt this to be 
a hazardous and shamefid condition, in which it ought 
not to be permitted to remain. The most appropriate 
disposition of the bill, it struck him, was that indi- 
cated by the Senator from South Carohna (Mr. Cal- 
houn). Let it go to a select committee. 

Turther debate ensued upon the subject of distri- 
bution and the propriety of referring the bill to a select 
or a standing committee, or to the Connnittee of the 
Whole. Upon the vote being taken, the Senate refused 
to refer thx bill, but made it the order of the day for 
some few days ahead. As it provided for the repeal 
of the Distribution Act, and a majority of the Senate 
at that time were in favor of, as they liad a few months 
before passed, that act, it met with decided opposition, 
and consequently failed. But Dr. L. had, nevertheless, 
performed what he deemed his duty to his constituents 
and to the country, and might console himself with the 



284 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

refle'ction that it was not in the power of mortals 
always to command success, even when most merited. 
But public men are often doomed to witness the fail- 
ure of measures they deem eminently useful and im- 
portant to the country, sometimes because others do not 
take the same view of them that they do, and some- 
times because proposed by one who belongs to a party 
in the minority, and the majority are unwilling to allow 
an opponent the credit of a good measure even though the 
country may be benefited thereby. Nothing is more 
common than this, however contrary to the theory of 
a republican government, which is based upon the sup- 
position that every citizen, whether in a public or pri- 
vate station, will have the true interests of the repub- 
lic at heart, and honestly advocate and support what- 
ever is calculated to promote the general good and 
prosperity of the whole nation, no matter by whom 
suggested or originated. In practice, however, one 
party advocates, while another opposes measures, sim- 
ply because they are " party measures ; " because the 
party proposing is to have the credit of whatever good 
they may be productive of, and may thereby gain 
strength with the country. I do not intend to affirm 
that this is always, and with all public men, the rule of 
action ; but I am reluctantly compelled to say, that 
the prosperity and success of the party to which public 
men attach themselves, to which they owe their official 



LIFE OF DR. LINN, 285 

positions, and look for a continuance of favor, is too often 
quite as near their hearts and exerts as great an influ- 
ence upon their actions, as the prosperity and best 
interests of the country. " The heart is deceitful above 
all things," and never more so than in the breast of a 
politician who has long sought to attain, has attained, 
and is ambitious to retain, a station of honor, profit or 
trust, which gives him eminence, influence and con- 
sideration in the nation or with those among whom he 
resides. There naturally arises, also, an attachment on 
the part of the inthvidual to the party to which he 
belongs, and with which he acts; its prosperity or 
adversity, success or defeat, weal or woe, are his ; he 
exults when it triumphs, is cast down when it is pros- 
trated, and becomes so identified with it that whatever 
its fate, that fate is his. No wonder, then, that it should 
sometimes, and, indeed, not unfrequently, usurp the 
place of country, and its opponents be looked upon 
almost in the light of public enemies, and treated as if 
they were at least domestic foes. 

Dr. Linn was a very decided party man ; he be- 
lieved the measures and principles of the party to which 
he belonged to be such as were calculated to promote 
the general good, and he therefore advocated them with 
the zeal and ardency which belonged to a warm heart, 
honest impvdses and strong feelings. He was devotedly 
attached to General Jackson personally, and supported 



286 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

his measures with an ardor due to the honest convic- 
tions of his judgment and the warmth of his personal 
friendship for the man. But while he did so, such was 
the khidliness and sincerity of his nature, such the 
urbanity of his demeanor, such the generosity and 
nobleness of his disposition, and the ever pleasant ex- 
pression of his countenance, that though his language 
in debate sometimes savored of a tartness foreign to his 
heart, his opponents ever gave him credit for the 
strictest honor, honesty, sincerity and manliness, and 
as a man held him in high esteem. 

AHMED OCCUPATION OF FLORIDA. 

In 1842, the Florida war being considered at an end, 
and yet the few Indians remaining in that territory 
continuing to commit depredations and murders upon 
the inhabitants sparsely settled along the frontiers, who 
were too few and far between to render each other much 
protection, if any, indeed, against the sudden incm*- 
sions of the savages, it was deemed necessary to adopt 
some measure that would tempt young, hardy, bold and 
athletic men to take up their abode in the vicinity of 
the Indians and defend the country against their depre- 
dations. The great object was to push forward the 
white settlements into the unsettled parts of the terri- 
tory, and thus to gradually crowd out the Indians, 
while a hardy body of pioneers were located along the 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 287 

line of advancing settlements who could cope vnih the 
savages, even in their own peculiar mode of warfare. 

With that view, Mr. Benton from the Committee on 
Military Affairs, introduced a bill giving lands to such 
as would settle upon tbem in that section of Florida. 
Mr. B. said the principle of the bill had several times 
received the sanction of the Senate ; similar bills having 
been several times passed by that body within the last 
three years. It was now recommended by the Presi- 
dent and Secretary of War ; and with the more reason 
as the number of Indians in the Peninsula of Florida 
was greatly reduced, and the troops partly withdrawn. 
There were not Indians enough in the territory to justify 
military operations. But there were too many to justify 
settlements by cultivators and others, until inducements 
were held out to them sufficient to justify people in- 
cm*ring the risks and the ])rivations incident to such 
settlement. The bill, he said, proposed these induce- 
ments ; namely, a quarter section of land, subsistence 
for one year, [this was afterwards stricken out by the 
House,] and arms and anunuuition for such as should need 
them. Mr. B. said the necessity for the bill was be- 
coming more and more m-gent by the massacres that 
were now taking place in that part of Florida. 

The bill having passed the Senate and come back 
from the House amended, was again opposed in the 
Senate, and to some of those who spoke against it Mr. 



288 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

Linn replied. He contended that the Government had 
acted heretofore upon the principle of making donations 
of land as an inducement to settlement. It was that 
policy which had contributed to secure the rapid settle- 
ment and sale of the public domain. It was a policy 
which had caused no actual loss to the Government. 
Mr. L. said he had incorporated that very principle in 
his Oregon bill; and he sincerely hoped senators 
would not oppose it on that ground. He trusted that 
the past policy of the Government would not be disre- 
garded. After speaking of the effectiveness of the 
bill as it passed the Senate, and the amendments by 
the House, he alluded to the policy the Government 
had pursued, of granting bounty land to the soldiers 
who defended the country during the last war. This 
was the same in principle. The settlers would go there 
under the inducement held out by the bill — a bounty 
in land — and fight for the soil, and save the blood of 
regidar military forces, which had been withdrawn from 
the contest at present. Those men woidd fight for 
their land, and love it the more because they had to 
fight for it. After giving a graphic description of the 
character, energy, and boldness of the men who would 
be induced to go into Florida mider this bill, Mr. L. 
showed that they would make a most effective force to 
grapple with the Indian, knife in hand, and drive him 
from his fastnesses. He argued that the Government 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 289 

would have to do either one thing or the other — to 
hold out an inducement for necessitous, enterprising, 
and bold men to go to Florida, and save the defence- 
less women and children from the cruelties of the sav- 
age, or speedily enlist another body of men and give 
them this very bounty, and pay them from the treasmy 
a heavy sum of money, to fight until the last Indian 
was driven from the territory. It was folly to suppose 
that an enemy as scattered as these Indians were, with 
small parties here and there, and every where, could 
be operated against by a regular military force. You 
coidd never dislodge them until you shall select a body 
of men that will follow them in their hammocks, seek 
out and discover their hu'king places, beat 'up their 
quarters, dog them from one fastness to another, until 
they found there was to be no peace nor rest for 
them, and no security for them but in cominir in 
and giving themselves up. Scattered as the Indians 
now were, it woiUd keep 10,000 regular men opera- 
ting at all points, to be of any sei-vice. :Mr. L. dwelt 
on the mode of Indian warfare, shouing that they 
could keep in active operation a very much laro-er 
nund)er of men than they counted themselves, as it 
was their custom to strike a serious unexpected blow, 
and then suddenly disai)pear, stnking perhaps another 
unlooked for blow in a few horn's after, at a point quite 

distant from the first, and then, in the midst of these 
19 



290 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

interminable fastnesses, whose labyrinths none could 
thread but themselves, elude pursuit, and laugh at their 
pursuers. But surround them with a cordon of hardy, 
fearless, advancing settlers, or let the column gradually 
advance upon them only from one direction, clearing up 
the countiy as it rolls onward, and the Indians woidd 
soon find they must surrender, or seek other quarters. 

Mr. Woodbridge of Michigan, said, so far as the 
bill contemplated a donation of land as an inducement 
for the settlement of Florida, it met his hearty concur- 
rence ; and it established no new principle in that re- 
spect. On a similar principle, 100,000 acres of land 
were given to secure a settlement at the junction of the 
Ohio, as early as 1787 or '88 — the Government then 
having to contend with just as savage an enemy as the 
Indians of Florida. 

As Mr. Linn was much interested in the settlement 
of Florida, — and we have already seen how active he 
had been to introduce the culture of new plants in that 
region, and thereby encourage the settlement and in- 
crease the productions of the teiTitory, — and as he 
was also desirous that Congress shoidd approve the 
principle of encouraging settlements by donations of 
land to settlers, — a principle embraced in his Oregon 
bill, — ^lie was much gratified by the Armed Occupation 
bill becoming a law, having passed the Senate by a 
vote of 24 to 16. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 291 

Although the measure has not been productive of 
all the beneficial efiects anticipated by its friends, it 
was not without some good results. Even to get the 
land settled, A\athout deriving any income or remunera- 
tion from it, is a much greater benefit to the country 
than any price in money that coidd be obtained for the 
land if sold, had the Government obtained fom' or ten 
times its real value ; for, 

" What constitutes a State ? 
Not high raised battlement or labored mound, 

Thick wall or moated gate : 
Not cities fair, with spires and turrets crown'd ; 

No : — men, high-minded men — 

Men who their duties know, 
Kiiowi*»g too their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain." 

Those lands were not such as emigrants would 
voluntarily settle upon and pay for, or accept as a 
donation, upon condition of placing their families upon 
them in their natural, unhealthy condition ; they had 
first to be drained, or the overflowing waters diked 
out, and when this was done, when, as " in the begin- 
ning," the land and the waters were separated, and 
" the dry land " was made to appear ; " and the earth 
brought forth grass and herb, yielcUng seed after his 
kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, 
after his kind," then those drowned lands become valu- 



292 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

able, being very rich and productive, and tempting to the 
husbandman. Many of these swamps, lakes and la- 
goons, the habitations of alligators, snapping turtles, 
copper-headed, moccasin, and other poison snakes and 
reptiles, have been drained and turned into fruitful 
fields, as Dr. Linn predicted they would, and others 
will, in time, undergo this desirable metamorphosis. 

DESTRUCTION OF STEAMBOATS ON THE MISSISSIPPI AND 

THE OHIO RIVERS. 

Wlrile the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and 
their tributaries, were the great highways upon which 
the commerce of the immense and fruitful country 
which they drained, was compelled to travel, — ^by 
which alone its exports could reach a market, and its 
imports be received, as Avas the case for many years, 
and until raih'oads in some measure supplanted these 
great natm-al highways, — the immense losses which 
occurred in consequence of the existence of numerous 
snags and sawyers in those rivers, and the great 
delays which took place in the season of low water in 
consequence of the " sand-bars " which then obstructed 
the navigation, were felt as a most serious evil by the 
people of the West, and the attention of Congress was 
again and again called to the subject, and its aid and the 
agency of the General Government invoked to render 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 293 

tlie necessary relief, by clearing ont these snags and 
sawyers, and deepening the channel over, or by some 
means removing, these " sand-bars." Appropriations 
were made from time to time by Congress for this 
piirpose ; bnt as there was a class of men, of politicians 
or statesmen, in Congress, and sometimes occnpying 
the Presidential chair, wdio denied that Congress had 
the constitutional power to appropriate the public 
moneys for purposes of this kind, those api)ropriations 
were always strenuously, and sometimes successfully 
opposed, and the objects intended to be accomplished 
were never more than half accomphshed, and then left 
in such a manner, that what had been done might as 
well not have been done ; the money expended was but 
thrown awav, and this fact served as an argument sub- 
sequently, against making fm-ther appropriations for 
the same or similar purposes. 

On the 17th of January, 1843, Mr. Linn rose in 
the Senate and stated, tliat he had been requested to 
present to that Ijody a memorial from the city of St. 
Louis, signed by nearly fifteen huncU'ed of its most 
intelhgent and useful business men. He knew many 
of the gentlemen who had put their names to this me- 
morial; and he coidd assure the Senate, that the 
utmost confidence was due to any statement they 
endorsed. Tlie prayer of the memorial is, that Con- 
gress may make an appropriation for improving the 



294 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

navigation of the great western rivers. The memorial- 
ists state that, especially in the Missomi and Missis- 
sippi Rivers, within the last four years, the accumula- 
tion of snags has been so great as to render navigation 
not only dangerous in the extreme to commerce, but 
hazardous, in consequence of the great number of lives 
lost among the passengers. They further state, said 
Mr. L., that, in the year 1839, there were forty steam- 
boats lost ; in 1840, there were forty-one ; twenty -nine 
in 1841, and in 1842, twenty -eight. The value of the 
boats would average $25,000 each, making a total loss 
of $3,000,000. But this is not aU : they further state, 
that almost every boat engaged in the Missouri trade 
has been injm'ed, more or less, by snags, the repairs 
of which cost about $260 each, which makes a total 
loss of $3,710,000, in the course of four years. 

Between the 11th September, and the 13th of 
October, in the past year, the following boats were lost 
between the city of St. Louis and the mouth of the 
Ohio ; to wit : 

Sept. 11. Mentor, boat and part of the cargo, loss . $34,000 
" 13. New Orleans, sunk within 100 yards of the 

Mentor, loss 45,000 

" 22. Pre-emption, near the same place . . . 25,000 

" " Robert T. Lytic, near the same place . . 7,000 

" 26. Fort Pitt, within ^ of a mile of the same place 25,000 

Oct. 6. Louisville 8,000 

" 7. Osage Valley, 40,000 

" 13. Eliza — sunk — 40 or 50 persons drowned, loss 50,000 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 295 

These losses, amounting to $234,000, occiuTed in less 
than five weeks. 

Mr. Linn continued. They further say, that the 
most formidable obstructions in the AVestern rivers 
are at St. Louis, or near that place ; but they neverthe- 
less sympathize with their feUow-citizens throughout 
the great valley of the Mississippi, and feel called on to 
co-operate with these, in urging this honorable body to 
do justice to the West, by making ample appropria- 
tions for the immediate improvement of our rivers, — 
the Missouri, the Ohio, and the Upper and Lower 
Mississippi. They observe that they can safely say 
that the commerce on those rivers and their tributaries, 
forming twenty thousand miles of interior navigation, 
cannot amount to less at the present time, than two 
hundred millions a year. The removal of snags, the 
clearing of logs from the banks caved in, and the 
improvement of the harbor of St. Louis, (all com- 
menced several years ago,) cannot be completed unless 
by the aid of the Government, and under its authority. 
They say that the rapids of the Upper Mississppi could 
be im})roved by a slack-water navigation, or a canal, 
which would enhance the value of the public lands. 

This subject, Mr. Linn said, was taken up by the 
population of the whole valley of the Mississippi. 
Every man, woman and child, in that valley was 
directly interested in the improvement of the great 



296 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

Western rivers. This population must and will be 
heard on this important matter. He could not face 
his constituents without doing all in his power to obvi- 
ate the crying and melancholy evils complained of. 
He could not retm-n home unless he exerted himself 
with all the ability and energy he possessed, to procm-e 
this appropriation. 

Nearly four millions of property, Mr. L. said, had 
been destroyed in less than four years,— a greater loss, 
he presumed, than has occiured from storm or tempest 
on oiu- Atlantic coast. This can be obviated by Con- 
gress on the Western waters, whilst God alone can 
command the storms of the great deep. The greatest 
amount of loss will be found between St. Louis and 
the mouth of the Ohio,' — a distance of two hundred 
miles. A snag-boat at work at a few points designated 
emphatically, "steamboat graveyards," woidd have 
prevented all the destruction of property and loss of 
life complained of in this and other petitions. Cap- 
tain Shreve eradicated one year all the snags that for- 
merly obstructed these points, by which the naviga- 
tion was rendered comparatively safe. This can be 
done again. It was vainly hoped that the iron steam- 
boats would have resisted the snags and saAvyers, 
which stand in some places like a forest of enormous 
trees. This has been tested, and the boats are found 
incapable of resisting the force of the snag. The Val- 



LIFE OF DU. LINN. 297 

ley Forge iron boat was lost this winter ; but had been 
since raised. Scarcel}^ a Western newspaper can be 
taken up, in which some account of a fresh wreck can- 
not be found. Last night he obseiTed in one the loss 
of the Henry Clay, valued at $40,000, without estima- 
ting the cargo. Two hmidred millions of dollars are 
involved in the trade carried on by steamboats on these 
rivers — thirty millions belonging to St. Louis. 

The right of Congress to make appropriations for the 
purpose of improving rivers and harbors, the great 
highways of connnerce, both external and internal, hav- 
ing been r|ucstioned by some of om* statesmen, and 
become, partially, one of the dividing questions between 
the political parties of the country, it is thought to be 
not out of place here to give, very briefly, the views of 
several senators as expressed on this occasion. Since 
this debate occurred Mr. Polk and Mr. Pierce, wliile 
exercising the duties of Chief Magistrate of the nation, 
have vetoed bills making such appropriations on the 
ground of their unconstitutionality. 

Mr. Smith of Lidiana, following Mr. Linn, said, 
he fully and heartily concurred with the memorialists, 
as well as in the very just remarks of the senator from 
Missom'i. The sul)ject was of great importance to the 
whole country, but especially so to the Great West. 
He had long thought that this important matter had 



298 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

been too much neglected by Congress. Such had been 
tlie loss of property and sacrifice of human life, in con- 
sequence of the neglect of the Government to rcmo^e 
the obstructions from the Western waters, and to pro- 
vide safe harbors on the Western lakes, that there was 
and would be, but one voice on the subject, and he 
trusted that the time had arrived for effective action on 
the subject. He Avould not go into an examination of 
the details of the memorials referred to, but the facts 
are most startling, and he recommended their careful 
examination to the committee to whom they were 
referred. 

Mr. Huntington, — chairman of the Committee on 
Commerce, said, he coidd assure the Senate that the 
subject had not escaped the Committee on Commerce. 
Several memorials were before the committee, where 
the most anxious desire to do justice in the matter 
prevailed. 

Mr. Allen (of Ohio), expressed his satisfaction at 
the assurance just given by the chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Commerce, that the subject would be care- 
fully considered. He would move the printing of the 
memorial. He hoped the committee would embody 
all the facts, information and reasoning of the several 
memorials in one general report, showing the extent, 
importance, and value of the navigation of the Western 
waters, and the loss of life and property occasioned 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 299 

by the obstructions, for the removal of Avhich the 
appropriation is asked. 

Mr. Barrow stated, tliat it was the pm-pose of the 
committee to do what the senator had expressed a wish 
should be done. Every member of the committee, as 
far as he could observe, was well disposed toAvards the 
object in view, and all were aware of the importance 
of the navigation of these Western waters, and of the 
necessity of doing something to an-est the losses com- 
plained of. The duty of colkithig the materials and 
facts, and of making a report, had been assigned to 
him by the committee, and lie was engaged in prepar- 
ing it. 

Mr. Calhoun said, in the absence of a representa- 
tion of the State of Tennessee in this bodv, he thought 
it proper to call the attention of the connnittee to one 
of the main branches of the Mississippi River, which 
had apparently been entirely overlooked ; he alluded to 
the Tennessee River. That river was, he believed, of 
more importance than any other of the branches of the 
Mississippi, with the exception of the Ohio. There 
were no less than six States interested in the navisa- 
tion of that river. It was a larger stream than the 
Ohio, and if the same expense were bestowed upon it, 
as upon the Ohio River, he woidd not be at all sur- 
prised to see, in the course of ten years, the conuuerce 
upon that river exceed that of the Ohio. He hoped 



300 LIFE OP DR. LINN. 

the committee would establish some principle upon 
which the navigation of these real internal seas — for 
such to all intents they were — might be improved; 
and to see how far this great river was entitled to their 
attention, on the principle thus established. 

Mr. Benton called the attention of the committee 
to the appropriation of $100,000 made at the last 
session for removing obstructions, and complained that 
nothing had been done under this appropriation. 

Mr. Walker called the attention of the committee 
to a navigable tributary of the Mississippi, flowing GOO 
miles through a country that furnished a larger con- 
tribution of cotton to the commerce of the South, than 
either the Tennessee or the Red River, or the Arkansas. 
He alluded to the Yazoo River. He entered into a 
variety of details showing the importance and value of 
the navis2;ation of this river, and those tributarv to it. 

Mr. W. thought this a question of as great impor- 
tance as could come before the committee on commerce. 
The navigation of these great inland channels of com- 
munication with the Ocean, furnished more produce for 
exportation than the Atlantic coast. 

Mr. Crittenden hoped that something would be 
done in relation to the great rivers of the West — the 
Mississippi and the Ohio, and perhaps some others ; 
but if they were going to include all the inferior 
streams, it was perfectly evident, as had been well said 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 301 

by the Senator from Alabama (Mr. King), tliey would 
not be able to legislate upon the subject at all. These 
rivers are our great inland ocean, and they had as much 
right to claim the assistance of the government as 
those living on the Atlantic coast had. He hoped the 
committee which had charge of the subject would con- 
line themselves to the great object of the improvement 
of these large rivers. 

Each of the senators who spoke on this occasion, 
not only recognized the right but the duty of Congress 
to make appropriations to improve the navigation of 
these Western rivers. Mr. Calhoun, it will be noted, 
denominated the rivers of the West " great internal 
SEAS," and as such he admitted the duty of the govern- 
ment to make appropriations for the improvement of 
their navigation and the security of life and property 
upon them. 

But the necessity for these appropriations is not 
now perhaps so imi)ortant ; not that the obstructions 
to the navigation upon the waters of the West do not 
now exist to the same extent as formerly, but from the 
fact that the construction of railroads connecting the 
great commercial cities of the West with the great cities 
on the Atlantic, and thereby enabling the people of 
the West to send forward their produce and receive 
goods in return at all seasons of the year, and in much 
less time than formerly, is shifting the commerce from 



302 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

the rivers to the raikoads, and bids fair to render the 
former highways of trade and commerce wholly useless 
except for those residing immediately on the banks of 
these streams, and for cities which have no other channel 
of connnunication ; as, for instance, between St. Louis 
and New Orleans, Natchez, Memphis, Little Rock, &c., 
and between St. Louis and St. Paul. But how lono: 
it may be ere St. Louis shall be connected with each 
and all of these cities by railroads, remains to be seen ; 
probably not many years, however ; and then we shall 
seldom hear of the destruction of steamboats by snags 
and sawyers upon the Mississippi River, and the loss 
of a great number of lives with the total loss of boat 
and cargo. The time is not distant, when, instead of 
ten or twenty steamboats arriving at the wharves of 
that city per day from New Orleans, Pittsburg, Cincin- 
nati, Louisville, Memphis, Natchez, Galena, Bm'lington, 
Davenport, Dubuque, St. Paul, and from the Rocky 
Mountains, fifty or sixty, perhaps a hundred, trains of 
rail cars will daily come rushing into that city from 
almost every part of the compass, and from every part 
of our great Republic, even from San Francisco, the 
mouth of the Columbia River, Puget's Sound, Salt 
Lake, &c., &c. And who will now undertake to say 
that the city of Mexico itself, will not be the terminus 
of one of these numerous routes of rapid intercom- 
munication ? 



CHAPTER VI. 



GENERAL JACKSON's FINE. 



It is a matter of history, that in 1815, soon after 
the battle of New Orleans, and while General Jackson 
was still in that city, he deemed it his dnty to adopt 
and pmsue such a course of measures as brought him 
in conflict with the civil authorities, and that a fine of 
one thousand dollars was imposed upon him by Judge 
Hall, U. S. District Jiulge, for an alleged contempt 
of the judicial authority. Parties and party feeling ran 
excessively high there at the time. On the one hand, 
it was alleged that the General acted in the most arbi- 
trary and tyrannical manner towards some of the 
citizens of Louisiana, and especially in proclaiming 
martial law and imprisoning a member of the Legisla- 
ture ; on the other hand, it was asserted in justification 
of his proceedings, that there were treasona})le designs 
afoot, and that the measures taken by General Jackson 



304 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

were necessary to the security of the city. Judge Hall 
having been apphed to for a Avrit of habeas corpus in 
behalf of Louis Louallier, who, as was alleged, was 
held in illegal, imprisonment, granted the same, and was 
therefor arrested and confined by order of General 
Jackson, and after six days confinement in the guard- 
house, was conducted by a file of soldiers out of the 
city, and beyond the lines of the camp. It was for 
this act, this alleged interference with the judicial 
authority, that the general was aftenvards cited before, 
and fined one thousand dollars by the judge. All the 
circumstances attending these transactions, the eminent 
stations of the two prominent men concerned, the 
General and the Judge, the conflict that it involved 
between the military and the civil power, all were cal- 
culated to excite an unusual degree of feeling and as- 
perity between those who enlisted on the one side or on 
the other. Accordingly, when the fine was imposed 
and paid, the sum was almost instantly raised by the 
friends of General Jackson, and handed to him ; but 
instead of putting the money in his own pocket, he 
ordered it to be applied to charitable purposes. 

His friends throughout the Union had insisted 
upon the injustice of this fine, but it was not till after 
he had retired from public life that the refunding of 
this fine by the United States was proposed and warmly 
advocated in various State legislatures and public 



LIFE 0¥ DR. LINN. 305 

meetings. No subject lay nearer the heart of Dr. Linn 
than the refunding of this fine to General Jackson, and 
he consequently took an active part in ])rocuring the 
passage of the bill for that purpose. In his inmost 
heart, aye, in his heart of hearts, he believed the fine 
wrongfully imposed ; that the general was at the time 
and in doing that for which he was fined, acting the 
part of a true, bold and determined patriot, bent upon 
saving New Orleans from the enemy at any hazard to 
himself personally, and feehng thus, it was natural that 
one possessing his ardent temperament, and entertain- 
ing the warmest feeling of personal attachment to the 
ex-President, should at least show no lukewarmness in 
a matter which so deeply concerned the latter. 

On the other hand, those who opposed tlie refund- 
ing of this fine, were etpially honest and sincere in 
their conviction that it had been rightfully imposed ; 
that General Jackson had most unwarrantably attempted 
to place the military above the civil and judicial power 
of the country, and in imprisoning a U. S. judge in 
his camp for granting a writ of right, committed a most 
flagrant breach of the laws and a most unjustifiable 
act of arbitrary power. 

The friends of the measure did not place it upon 

the ground that General Jackson had a constitutional 

right to do what he did : Dr. L. in the course of the 

debate said " that the friends of this measure had not 
20 



306 LIFE OF DR LINN. 

argued it on the ground of ths act for which the fine 
was incurred being constitutional. He apprehended 
not one of his friends had taken that position, and that 
therefore the senator from Delaware (Mr. Bayard) 
was in error in supposing it so advocated. What he 
and his friends did say was, that General Jackson, 
under the circumstances in which he was placed, acted 
nobly, and merited the approval and gratitude of the 
whole country, so fully, unequivocally, and repeatedly 
awarded to him then, and ever since the transaction. 
He was not the man voluntarily to abandon his duty 
to his country in such a crisis, and take refuge behind 
the letter of the constitution for his excuse after both 
country and constitution were destroyed by an invading 
enemy." And Mr. Buchanan said, " It had never been 
contended on this floor that a military commander pos- 
sessed the power, under the constitution of the United 
States, to declare martial law. No such principle had 
ever been asserted on this (the Democratic) side of the 
Senate. * "* * We do not contend, strictly speak- 
ing, that General Jackson had any constitutional right 
to declare martial law at New Orleans ; but that, as 
this exercise of power was the only means of saving the 
city from captiure by the enemy, he stood amply justi- 
fied before the country for the act. We place the 
argument not upon the ground of strict constitutional 
right, but of such an overruling necessity as left General 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 307 

Jackson no alternative but the establishment of niaitial 
law, or the sacrifice of New Orleans to the rapine and 
lust of the British soldiery." 

This subject was, on several occasions, brought be- 
fore Congress by Dr. Linn, whose remarks upon it, de- 
livered in the Senate on the 14th of May, 1842, are 
here inserted. 

Remarks of Mr. Linn, of Missouri, on the bill to in- 
demnify General Jackson for the fine imposed on 
him at New Orleans in 1815, delivered in the United 
States Senate, May 14, 1842. 

The following bill being under consideration, viz : 

A BILL to indemnify Major General Andrew Jackson for damage 
sustained in the discharge of his official duty. 

Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That 
the proper accounting officers of the Treasury Department be, 
and they are hereby, directed to ascertain the amount of the 
penalty or damages awarded by the district judge of the United 
States, at New Orleans, in the year eighteen hundred and fifteen, 
against Major General Andrew Jackson, then commander-in- 
chief of that district, for official acts in that capacity, and paid 
by him at that time ; and that the sum so paid, with interest at 
six per cent, per annum, be paid to Major General Andrew Jack- 
son, out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. 

Mr. Linn said he desired to occupy the attention 



308 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

of tlie Senate a short time by a few obsenations, in 
reply to tlie Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Conrad.) 

If this were the first case of the kind (said My. L.) 
which had occurred in the history of the country, I 
might, perhaps, be induced to pause while in the act of 
extending sheer justice to an injured citizen. But, sir, 
our statute-books abound in precedents — cases in which 
military and naval officers, as Avell as other agents in 
almost eve/y department of the Government, having, 
in the discharge of their duty, incurred the penalty of 
the law, and been obliged to pay fines, have called upon 
us for rehef, and have seldom, or never, called in vain. 

In the case now presented to the Senate, what are 
we required to do? Nothing, sir — nothing but a 
simple, naked, and unencumbered act of justice to a 
citizen who has been fined by a court for an act done 
while in the performance of his duty, and wdiile render- 
ing most valuable and important services to his country. 
This is the only true and proper light in ^\•hich the 
subject can be viewed ; and it can serve no good object 
to intermix extraneous matters, as proposed in the 
amendments, with the plain question. It is not neces- 
sary to make any allusion to the judge by whom the 
fine was imposed ; and the bill is, therefore, silent as to 
Judge Hall. It neither condemns his motives nor his 
acts. It is possible, as I remarked the other day, that 
the Judge and the General, in the discharge of then- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 309 

peculiar duties, may have IdoUi been right. We all 
know that the General teas right. In regard to the 
former, we are not called upon, and it is worse than 
useless now to express an opinion directly or indirectly ; 
and as to the latter, should we now refuse to extend to 
him the simple act of justice wliich the bill provides, or 
clog it with derogatory amendments, we would trample 
upon every generous emotion which moved the bosoms 
of the fair daughters of New Orleans when they gath- 
ered their jewels to ward off the blow aimed at their 
gallant preserver by an indignant judiciary — every 
noble and generous impulse which has moved a free 
people to elevate him, by their suffrages, above the 
sentence of the coiu't. 

I repeat, an investigation into the motives or the 
acts of Judge Hall is uncalled for ; and I will not con- 
tribute to such an investigation. The question has but 
one bearing or point to which we must look. It is 
confined to this inquiry : Was the declaration of martial 
law necessary to the safety of New Orleans ? It would 
be a waste of time to seek, here or elsewhere, for a man 
who will give a negative answer to this question ; for 
all, I believe — even the Senator (Mr. Conrad) himself 
— will admit that General Jackson had good and suffi- 
cient ground for believing that martial law was neces- 
sary ; that his imperative duty was, to save the city — 
and, as a means, that duty required him to estabhsh 



310 LIFE OF DR LINN. 

martial law. But, if, at tliis day, it should be con- 
tended that the grounds of the General's belief were 
insufficient, to what source, I Would ask, must the 
error be traced? There was no error in the case ; many 
good reasons existed, and they were communicated to 
General elackson by the highest civil authorities of the 
State — Governor Claiborne among the number; and 
were by those authorities deemed to be of such a 
nature as to render the establishment of martial law 
indispensably necessary to its safety. 

Of this indispensable necessity, the most incredu- 
lous will be convinced by reading the letters of Gov- 
ernor Claiborne to General Jackson. In that of the 
8th of August, 1814, he says : 

" On a late occasion I had the mortification to acknowlege my 
inability to meet a requisition from General Flournoy ; the corps 
of this city having, for the most part, resisted my orders ; being 
encouraged in their disobedience by the Legislature of the State, 
then in session ; one branch of which, the Senate, having de- 
clared the requisition illegal and oppressive, and the House of 
Representatives having rejected a proposition to approve the 
measure. How far I shall be supported in my late orders, remains 
yet to be proved. I have reason to calculate upon the patriotism 
of the interior and western counties. I know, also, that there are 
many faithful citizens in New Orleans ; but there are others, in 
whose attachment to the United States / ought not to confide. 
Upon the whole, sir, I cannot disguise the fact, that if Louisiana 
should be attacked, we must principally depend for security upon 
the prompt movements of the regular force under your command, 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. ' 311 

and the militia of the "Western States and Territories. At this 
moment, we are in a very unprepared and defenceless condition ; 
several important points of defence remain unoccupied, and, in 
case of a sudden attack, this capital would, I fear, fall an easy 
sacrifice." 

On the 12tli of the same month the General was 

told— 

" On the native Americans and a vast majority of the Cre- 
oles of the country, I place much confidence ; nor do I doubt the 
fidelity of many Europeans who have long resided in the country ; 
but there are others, much devoted to the interest of Spain, and 
whose partiality to the English is not less observable than their 
dislike to the American Government." 

In a letter of the 24th, the same ideas are repeated — 
" Be assured, sir, that no exertions shall be wanting on my 
part ; but I cannot disguise from you that I have a very difficult 
people to manage ; to this moment, no opposition to the requisition 
has manifested itself, but I am not seconded with that ardent zeal 
which, in my opinion, the crisis demands. We look with great 
anxiety to your movements, and place our greatest reliance for 
safety on the energy and patriotism of the Western States. In 
Louisiana there are many faithful citizens : these last persuade 
themselves that Spain will soon repossess herself of Louisiana, and 
they seem to believe that a combined Spanish and English force 
will soon appear on our coast. If Louisiana is invaded, I shall 
put myself at the head of such of my militia as will follow me 
to the field, and, o?irecemn(7, s^aZZ obey your orders. I need 
not assure you of my entire confidence in you as a commander, 
and of the pleasure I shall experience in supporting all your 
measures for the common defence. But, sir, a cause of indescri- 
bable chagrin to me is, that I am not at the head of a willing and 



312 * LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

united people : native Americans, native Louisianians, Frenclimen 
and Spaniards, with some Englishmen, compose the mass of the 
population — among them there exists much jealousy, and as great 
diiferences in political sentiments, as in their language and habits. 
But nevertheless, sir, if we are supported by a respectable body 
of regular troops, or of Western militia, I trust I shall be able 
to bring to your aid a valiant and faithful corps of Louisiana 
militia; but if we are left to rely principally on our ow7i re- 
sources, I fear existing jealousies will lead to distrust so general, 
that we shall be able to make but a feeble resistance." 

If there be any upon whose mmcls there Hngers a 
doubt upon this question, let him look at the picture 
which New Orleans presented at that day. A quarter 
of a centuiy ago, the organization of the society of that 
city was peculiar ; in its composition there was much 
that was foreign to our institutions, in act and in feeling ; 
for in it was infused a mixture from the continent of 
Europe, of men not native to our soil — from France, 
Spain, Portugal, Britain, and Germany — many of whom 
felt a deep gratitude to England for the overthrow of 
Bonaparte. Indeed, when we reflect upon the situation 
of New Orleans as it then was, in regard to this por- 
tion of its population aIo?ie, we might well be justified 
in lauding the declaration of martial law by General 
Jackson, even aside from the fact that he was urged to 
do so by the civil authorities of the State, and by others 
of its most gallant and patriotic sons. 

If, sir, my memory serves me, something fell from 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 313 

the gentleman from Louisiana, wliich indicated a desire, 
on his part, that the friends of Gen. Jackson should 
establish the fact that he was justified, on legal consti- 
tutional grounds, for adopting the course which he pur- 
sued at New Orleans. He woidd require us to point 
out the law under which the General acted. I trust 
the Senator will be satisfied with the fact, that many 
emergencies arise in war — and, indeed, some in peace — 
in which the high civil and militaiy servants of the 
people are, from nccessit)j, compelled to " take the re- 
sponsibility " of doing some act for the safety of the 
country, which is beyond the pale of their ordinary 
duties, and, if the Senator pleases, beyond the law. 
Again -. I could refer the Senator to the cases in which 
Generals Wilkinson, Brown, and other oificers on the 
frontiers of the State of New York, have been amerced 
for arresting and imprisoning persons on suspicion of 
being spies or traitors. 

Tlicre arc precedents innumerable Avhere officers 
have Ijeen found guilty of breaches of law in the dis- 
charge of their duty, and, therefore, calling for the in- 
terference of a just Government. Of these, it is only 
necessary to introduce a few, where the Government 
did interpose and give relief to the injured officer. 
These cases commenced as early as August, 1790, and 
have continued down to the present time. Thus, in 
April, 1818, Major General Jacob Brown was indem- 



314 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 



nified for damages sustained under sentence of civil 
law, for having confined an individual found near his 
camp, suspected of traitorous designs. 

At the same session. Captain Austin and Lieutenant 
Wells were indemnified against nine judgments, amount- 
ing to upwards of $6,000, for having confined nine 
individuals suspected of treachery to the country. In 
this case it was justly remarked by the then Secretary 
of War, (John C. Calhoun,) that "if it shoidd be de- 
termined that no law authorized" the act, "yet I 
woidd respectfully suggest that there may be cases, in 
the exigencies of war, in which, if the commander 
should transcend his legal power, Congress ought to 
protect him, and those who act under him, from con- 
sequential damages ; " in which the committee of the 
House of Representatives, as stated by their chairman, 
the lately deceased member from North Carolina (Mr. 
Williams) concurred. 

In the case of General Robert Swartwout, in 1818, 
the committee by whom it was reported stated that " it 
is considered one of those extreme cases of necessity 
in which an overstepping of the estabhshed legal rules 
of society stands fully justified." 

In May, 1820, General James Wilkinson was in- 
demnified for damages recovered against him by Gen- 
eral Adair, on account of false imprisonment. 

In March, 1823, Colonel Robert Purdy was in- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 315 

demniiied for damages, for having arrested and impris- 
oned an individual found near his garrison, whose acts 
had done injury to the subordination of that post, and 
were calculated to violate law. In this case it was re- 
marked that, " admitting the court to be correct, both as 
to jurisdiction and the definition " of the character, 
&c., yet the conmiittee are of opinion the petitioner is 
entitled to relief, because they are satisfied he acted 
with the sole view of promoting the public interest 
confided to his command. 

In March, 1823, Lieutenant Robert F. Stockton, 
of the navy, was indemnified for damages sustained on 
account of the capture and detention of a vessel and 
crew. The committee, in this case, remarked, that, 
" having maturely considered the case," they " are of 
opinion that in the capture," &c., " he was actuated by 
an honest determination to discharge, in a proper 
manner, the trust reposed in him by the Government." 

Cases in point might be further multiplied, were it 
deemed necessary, to show the entu-e willingness of the 
Government, at all times, to protect its faithfid officers 
and agents in the discharge of their official duties. 

Sir, in all these examples, the Congress of the 
United States have paid or remitted their fines, by the 
usual preliminary course of investigation and report by 
a committee. The same principles governed, and the 
same proceecUngs occuiTed, in all the cases. The pub- 



316 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

lie good was presumed to be the governing motive of 
the officer, and the grounds of the act complained of. 
And in all these instances, in which provision was made 
to refund the fines, no difference in principle can be 
found from that involved in the case now presented. 
And in respect to this fine, which was exacted from 
General Jackson, I would ask, are Senators prepared to 
make Ms case an exception ? 

I would have avoided, if possible, saying any thing 
in reference to the deeds of General Jackson ; neither 
do I wish to point the Senate to the halo with which 
those deeds have surrounded his venerable head and 
illumined his country. My voice mil not be heard in 
utterance of his praise, to induce Senators to support 
the biU which they are now considering. Nor is it 
necessary ; for even those who have opposed obstacles 
to its passage — obstacles which have surprised me, and 
which I doubt not wiU be viewed with astonishment by 
a vast majority of the people of this republic — have ad- 
mitted his just claim to honor and fame, and the grati- 
tude of his countrymen. His actions proclaim for 
themselves their enduring fame ; gratitude has stamped 
them upon our memories ; and the true and steady 
hand of History 'will grave them deeply upon her im- 
perishable tablets. His good name cannot noio be 
sullied ; it is placed in the scroll which contains the list 
of those whom freemen and patriots delight to honor. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 317 

His reputation, like a star, far above tlie clouds of de- 
traction wliich float around our censorious world, will 
shine with a brighter radiance as the flight of time 
shall hallow his memory. 

I hf, ve given a few out of many precedents ; though 
I am free to confess that, when this bill was submitted 
to the consideration of the Senate, I did not anticipate 
that gentlemen would take a coiu'se wliich would render 
them necessarv. I have one now before me : and, as 
it is of peculiar applicability, and supported by an 
opinion from a source to which Senators will attach a 
sincere veneration, I ^^'ill ask their particular attention 
to it. The case arose from the arrest of certain in- 
dividuals suspected of treason by General Wilkinson ; 
and, in defence of the course pursued by the General, 
President Jefferson expressed his opmion in the letter 
which I vnR read "VAdth the permission of the Senate. 

Extract of a letter from Mr. Jefferson to John B. Colvin, Esq. 

" To proceed to the conspiracy of Burr, and particularly to 
General Wilkinson's situation in New Orleans. In iudmnff this 
case we are bound to consider the state of the information, cor- 
rect and incorrect, which he then possessed. He expected Eurr 
and his band from above, a British fleet from below ; and he 
knew there was a formidable conspiracy within the city. Under 
these circumstances, was he justifiable, 1st. In seizing notorious 
conspirators ? On this there can be but two opinions — one, of 
the guilty and their accomplices ; the other, that of all honest 
men. 2d. Sending them to the seat of Government, when the 



318 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

written law gave them a right to trial in the Territor}-? The 
danger of their rescue ; of continuing the machinations ; the 
tardiness and weakness of the law ; apathy of the judges ; active 
patronage of the whole tribe of lawyers ; unknown dispositions 
of the juries ; an hourly expectation of the enemy; salvation of 
the city, and of the Union itself, which would have been convulsed 
to its centre, had that conspiracy succeeded — all these constituted 
a law of necessity and self-preservation ; and rendered the solus 
populi supreme over the written law. The officer who is called 
to act on this superior ground does, indeed, risk himself on the 
justice of the controlling powers of the Constitution / and his 
station makes it his duty to incur that risk. But those controlling 
powers, and his fellow-citizens generally, are bound to judge ac- 
cording to the circumstances under which he acted. They are 
not to transfer the information of this place or moment to the 
time and place of this action ; but to put themselves into his 
situation. We know here that there never was danger of a 
British fleet from below ; and that Burr's band was crushed before 
it reached the Mississippi. But General Wilkinson's information 
was very different ; and he could act on no other. 

" From these examples and principles, you may see what I 
think on the question proposed. They do not go to the case of 
persons charged with petty duties, where consequences are trifling, 
and time allowed for a legal course ; iior to authorize them to 
take such cases out of the written law. In these, the example 
of overleaping the law is of greater evil than a strict adherence 
to its imperfect provisions. It is incumbent on those only ivho 
accept of great charges, to risk themselves on great occasions, 
lohen the safety of the nation, or some of its very high interests, 
are at stake. An officer is bound to obey orders ; yet he would 
be a bad one who should do it in cases for which they were not 
intended, and which involved the most important consequences. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 319 

The line of discrimination between cases may be difficult. .But 
the good officer is bound to draw it at his own peril, and throws 
himself on the justice of his country, and the rectitude of his 
motives." 

Now, sir, viewing ingenuously the whole course of 
General Jackson at New Orleans, and contrasting the 
principles involved in his case with Judge Hall, with 
those expressed in the letter of President Jefferson, 
could any man doubt that the General rested upon the 
rectitude of his intentions and the justice of his 
country? None, sir — none can doubt it. The almost 
entire population of Louisiana rose to sustain and honor 
him; his countrymen, by confemng upon him the 
highest mark of their confidence, have approved his 
every act at New Orleans ; and we arc now called on 
to render to him an act of justice — an act which that 
venerated statesman and patriot warrior of the Re- 
public believes necessary to remove from the page of 
his life a passage wliicli tlie decision of a court may 
have blurred, and which may, hy possibilifi/, create an 
injurious doubt as to the rectitude of his intentions, in 
the minds of some when he shall rest in his grave. 
The country has manifested its confidence in his up- 
rightness, by bestowing upon him the highest office in 
the gift of the people — and that confidence tliey have 
never had cause to repent. His history should Ijccome 
familiar to the youth of oiu: land ; it furnishes one of 



320 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

the best examples by which to shape their course as 
citizens of the Repubhc; and presents, in the most 
prominent manner, that great reward which is extended 
to honesty of purpose, disinterested love of country, 
and persevering efforts to promote its welfare — a re- 
ward greater than that which has ever been given by 
any other country, to any man, for like virtues. Though 
left an orphan at an early age, these virtues, and these 
efforts alone, unaided by wealth or by connexions, (for 
not a drop of his blood flows in the veins of any living 
creature,) have placed him at the head of om^ most 
distinguished citizens, and made him one of the orna- 
ments of oar young Repubhc. Oh, sir, he is a noble 
production of om' glorious political institutions. 

In reverting to the question before the Senate, I 
would remark, that the declaration of martial law, by 
General Jackson, involved all the consequences to which 
the Senator from Louisiana has thought proper to 
allude. 

And here I may be permitted to introduce addi- 
tional facts, to demonstrate the necessity of the measure. 
They are taken from the answer of General Jackson 
to the rule of the court, and have never been ques- 
tioned : 

" If examples can justify, or the practice of others serve as a 
proof of necessity, the respondent has ample materials for hia 
defence ; not from analogous construction, but from the conduct 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 321 

of all the diflferent departments of the State Government, in the 
very case now under discussion. 

" The Legislature of the State, having no constitutional power 
to regulate or restrain commerce, on the — day of December last, 
passed an act laying an embargo ; the Executive sanctioned it ; 
and, from a conviction of its necessity, it was acquiesced in. The 
same Legislature shut up the courts of justice for four months to 
all civil suitors ; the same Executive sanctioned that law ; and 
the judiciary not only acquiesced, but solemnly approved it. 

" The Governor, as appears by one of the letters quoted, un- 
dertook to inflict the punishment of exile upon an inhabitant 
without any form of law, merely because he thought that an in- 
dividual's presence might be dangerous to the public safety. 

" The judge of this very court, duly impressed with the 
emergency of the moment, and the necessity of employing every 
means of defence, consented to the discharge of men committed 
and indicted for capital crimes, without bail, and without recog- 
nizance ; and probably under an impression that the exercise of 
his functions would be useless, absented himself from the place 
where his court was to be holdeu, and postponed its session during 
a regular term. 

" Thus the conduct of the legislative, executive and judiciary 
branches of the Government of this State have borne the fullest 
testimony of the existence of the necessity on which the re- 
spondent relies. 

" The unqualified approbation of the Legislature of the United 
States, and such of the individual States as were in session, ought 
also to be admitted as no slight means of defence, inasmuch as 
all these respectable bodies were fully apprised of his proclama- 
tion of martial law, and some of them seemed to refer to it, by 
thanking him for the energy of his measures." 

21 



322 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

What an extraordinary picture does this state of 
facts present ! Here is a Governor who exiles an in- 
dividual on suspicion of his entertaining dangerous 
designs — a Legislature laying an embargo upon the 
commerce of the country, and shutting up tlie courts 
of justice — and a judiciary voluntarily laying aside the 
ermine, and absenting themselves, to avoid the perform- 
ance of a solemn duty ; and this directly in violation 
of the law and the Constitution — and all these events 
passed, as they should — without condemnation from 
any quarter ; because, where virtuous intentions were, 
these acts were most virtuous ; whilst the General who 
had the courage to take the high responsibility of 
saving his country, has a mark of disapprobation set 
upon him by a member of this very judicial tribunal 
which had evaded the performance of the duties im- 
posed upon it by the laws and the Constitution ; and 
you — you, sir — hesitate to efface it, or, departing from 
all precedent, propose to attach conditions which neither 
he nor his friends can accept. 

The gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Conrad], in 
his allusions, would seem to desire to have it appear 
that General Jackson continued the operation of the 
law longer than was absolutely necessary. There was 
a rumor of peace ; the enemy had been driven from 
before the town ; and the gentleman thinks, or would 
have us infer, that the rigor of the martial law should 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 323 

have been somewhat relaxed. Tor what? That in- 
clividnals might be permitted to promote a little dis- 
affection — to raise a small speck of hostility against 
the watchful and brave veteran — to sive a slio;lit de- 
gree of encouragement to the poor defeated enemy — • 
and to be permitted to do this by publications in news- 
papers, by handljills stuck upon the walls of the town, 
or in any other j!;<?«c^«/5/^ way which their ingenuity 
might suggest ? I repeat, the declaration of martial 
laAV involved the consequences which followed ; and, in 
regard to the proceedings of Judge Hall, we need not 
waste our time in fine-spun disquisitions about his 
writs, his arrest, or his banishment from the camp, and 
imjjrisonment or confinement to the remaining portion 
of the United States and its territories. The Judge, 
as well as every other person within the precincts of the 
camp, were, for the time, subject to the operation of 
the law. When he issued his process, in order to take 
from the military an individual who had been arrested 
and secured for the pm-pose of preventing him from 
giving aid to the enemy, or endanfjering the scfeft/ of 
the country, the time had not anived for the Judge to 
assume his functions. From the moment of its adop- 
tion to that in whch it ceased, the martial law was 
paramount ; and there could, under such circumstances, 
be no contempt of court. If there was any contempt, 
it was a contempt committed by the Judge against the 



324 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

necessarily paramount authority wliicli existed witliin the 
precincts of the camp — an authority created by the 
necessities and dangers of that portion of the country. 
And, sir, in regard to the intimation that General Jack- 
son should have acted upon the rumor of peace, and 
immediately relieved his camp from the operation of 
martial law, I have to say, that the fact that the rumor 
was suffered to pass unheeded, is a strong and convinc- 
ing evidence not only of his capacity to command, but 
of his unslumbering vigilance, and his entire devotedness 
to the safeiy of the country and the glory of its arms. 
And if I were to select any portion of his eventful his- 
tory for an evidence of his great qualities as a com- 
mander, it would be that which represents him as cast- 
ing to the winds rumors Avhich lulled into security those 
about him, while a powerfid and mortified enemy, 
smarting under the infliction of a chastisement Avhich 
had torn from their brows the blushing honors which 
they had so bravely gathered upon the fields of Eu- 
rope, were crouching within a single bound of the plain 
from which they had been diiven, and, with hot blood 
and braced sinews, were eager to spring upon and tear 
those who had so recently humbled them. No, sir ; 
none of the attributes which mark the character of 
General Jackson coidd subject him to the machinations 
of the enemy, however subtle. His vigilance was as 
untiring as his honesty was incorruptible. And ap- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 325 

preciating, as he should, the vast responsibility/ which 
rested upon him, he was not to be diverted from his 
(hity by a rumor, — nothing but certainty shoukl, or 
did satisfy him. It has been correctly said by a late 
distinguished member of the Senate, that the post held 
by General Jackson — the outlet of the Mississippi — 
was more important than any other in our vast country ; 
and so long as that noble river continued to bear its 
vast tribute to the ocean, so long would the defence 
of New Orleans remain one of the brightest pages of 
our countiy's history. 

I would here call the attention of the Senate to 
another portion of tlie answer of General Jackson, 
touching his conduct and his views of duty after the 
rumor of peace had reached New Orleans. 

" He thought peace a probable, but by no means a certain 
event. If it had really taken place, a few days must bring the 
official advice of it ; and he believed it better to submit, during 
those few days, to the salutary restraints imposed, than to put 
every thing dear to ourselves and country at risk upon an uncer- 
tain contingency. Admit the chances to have been a hundred or 
a thousand to one in favor of the ratification, and against any 
renewed attempts of the enemy ; what should we say or think of 
the prudence of the man who would stake his life, his fortune, 
his country, and his honor, even with such odds in his favor, 
against a few days' anticipated enjoyment of the blessings of 
peace ? The respondent could not bring himself to play so deep 
a hazard ; uninfluenced by the clamors of the ignorant and the 
designing, he continued the exercise of that law whifeh necessity 



326 LIFE. OF DR. LINN. 

Lad compelled bim to proclaim ; and he still thinks himself jus- 
tified, by the situation of afiairs, for the course which he adopted 
and pursued. Has he exercised this power wantonly or im- 
properly ? If so he is liable — not, as he believes, to this honor- 
able court for contempt, but to his Government for an abuse of 
power, and to those individuals whom he has injured, in damages 
proportioned to that injury. 

" About the period last described, the consul of France, who 
appears by Governor Claiborne's letter, to have embarrassed the 
first drafts, by his claims in favor of pretended subjects of his 
king, renewed his interference ; his certificates were given to men 
in the ranks of the army — to some who had never applied, and 
to others who wished to use them as the means of obtaining an 
inglorious exemption- from danger and fatigue. The immunity 
derived from these certificates not only thinned the ranks, by the 
withdrawal of those to whom they were given, but produced the 
desertion of others, who thought themselves equally entitled to 
the privilege ; and to this cause must be traced the abandonment 
of the important post of Chef Menteur, and the temporary refu- 
sal of a relief ordered to occupy it. 

" Under these circumstances, to remove the force of an exam- 
ple which had already occasioned such dangerous consequences, 
and to punish those who were so unwilling to defend what they 
were so ready to enjoy, the respondent issued a general order, 
directing those French subjects who had availed themselves of 
the consul's certificates to remove out of the lines of defence, 
and far enough to avoid any temptation of intercourse with our 
enemy, whom they were so scrupulous of opposing. This mea- 
sure was resorted to, as the mildest mode of proceeding against a 
dangerous and increasing evil ; and the respondent had the less 
scruple of his power, in this instance, as it was not quite so strong 
as that which Governor Claiborne had exercised, before the inva- 



LIFE or DR. LINN. 327 

sion, by the advice of his attorney general, in the case of Col- 
onel Coliel. 

" It created, however, some sensation; discontents were again 
fomented, from the source that had first produced them. Aliens 
and strangers became the most violent advocates of constitu- 
tional rights ; and native Americans tvere taught the value of 
their privileges, by those who formally disavowed any title to 
their enjoyment. The order was particularly opposed — in an 
anonymous publication. In this, the author deliberately and 
wickedly misrepresented the order, as subjecting to removal all 
Frenchmen whatever, even those who had gloriously fought in 
defence of the country ; and, after many dangerous and unwar- 
rantable declarations, he closes, by calling upon all Frenchmen 
to flock to the standard of their consul — thus advising and pro- 
ducing an act of mutiny and insubordination, and publishing the 
evidence of our weakness and discord to the enemy, who were 
still in our vicinity, anxious, no doubt, before the cessation of 
hostilities, to wipe away the late stain upon their arms. To have 
silently looked on such an ofi"ence, without making any attempt to 
punish it, would have been a formal surrender of all discipline, 
all order, all personal dignity and public safety. This could not 
be done ; and the respondent immediately ordered the arrest of 
the defender. A writ of habeas corpus was directed to issue for 
his enlargement. The very case which had been foreseen — the 
very contingency on which martial law was intended to operate 
— ^had now occurred. The civil magistrate seemed to think it 
his duty to enforce the enjoyment of civil rights, although the 
consequences which have been described would probably have 
resulted. An unbending sense of what he seemed to think his 
station required, induced him to order the liberation of the pri- 
soner. This, under the respondent's sense of duty, produced a 
conflict which it was his wish to avoid. 



328 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

" No other course remained than to enforce the principles 
which he had laid down as his guide, and to suspend the exer- 
cise of this judicial power, wherever it intei-fered with the neces- 
sary means of defence. The only way effectually to do this, was 
to place the Judge in a situation in which bis interference could 
not counteract the measures of defence, or give countenance to 
the mutinous disposition that had shown itself in so alarming a 
degree. Merely to have disregarded the writ, would have but 
increased the evil ; and to have obeyed it, was wholly repugnant 
to the respondent's ideas of the public safety, and to his own 
sense of duty. The Judge was, therefore, confined, and removed 

beyond the lines of defence." 

• 

While, on the one hand, no one can clonbt that, in 
estabhshing martial law at New Orleans, General Jack- 
son was actuated by motives of duty and patriotism, 
and while it cannot and will not be denied that, in all 
cases in which our military officers have been amerced, 
in consequence of performing a duty deemed necessary 
and proper, we have extended relief to them in the 
manner now proposed, — we are not, on the other hand, 
requii'ed, by any consistent view of the facts, either to 
censm-e, to exonerate, or to applaud Judge Hall, and 
whatever may be my views of his com'se, I feel that 
there would be an inconsistency in departing from all 
precedent in this simple act of justice to the venerable 
patriot now standing upon the verge of his grave ; and, 
therefore, I repeat, I do not desire to call in question, 
on this occasion, the conduct of the Judge. I sin- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 329 

cerely hope that he, too, was giiidecl by a desu-e to dis- 
charge the duties of his station ; for, in view of the 
cu-cumstances, imder which this colhsion of adverse 
authorities occiuTed, there is an attractive moral gran- 
deur presented in the idea of its harmonious adjustment. 

In time of war, how numerous are the instances 
where our commanding officers are obhged, by the force 
of circumstances, to assume a higli, and, unless guided 
by an enlightened discretion, a dangerous responsi- 
bility ! And in all cases, where they have kept within 
the limits which that cUscretion prescribes, the legisla- 
tive authority has interposed its arm, and saved them 
from harm. Indeed, I cannot recall to my mind a 
single instance where compensation has been witlihcld. 
But it is urged that the General was much too fond of 
assuming responsibilities. Yes : his whole life was one 
continued scene of acts performed for the benefit of 
his country — of responsibilities voluntarily assumed for 
its glory and honor. When or where was it unwisely 
or wickedly assumed ? I challenge an answer. And I 
may here be permitted to name an instance in which 
General Jackson assumed the resjjonsibilit^, which, I 
doubt not, contributed in a great measure to the glori- 
ous result at New Orleans, though the incident occurred 
some time previous to that event. 

In the autumn of 1812, a portion of the Tennes- 
see volunteers, midcr General Jackson, were dismissed 



330 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

at Natchez, to which place they had been ordered for 
the protection of the lower country. They were far 
from their homes and connections, and chsbanded, by 
the order- of the Government, without arms, or rations, 
or assistance of any kind, and left to make their way 
back through a wilderness country — liable to sickness 
by the way, and attacks from hostde Indians. Under 
these circumstances it was that the General assumed the 
Tesponsihility , at the imminent risk of his private for- 
tune and public character, of supplying them with 
arms, ammunition, food, and as many horses and 
wagons as sufficed for their transportation. Can it be 
doubted that this provident and generous act of the 
General endeared him to the brave Tennesseans, and, 
in 1814, made them prompt to respond to his call for 
volunteers for the defence of New Orleans ? Had the 
dismissed troops at Natchez, in 1812, been forsaken 
by him in their distress, as they had been by the Gov- 
ernment, and left penniless, and without food, far from 
their friends and homes, can any one suppose that they 
would have again placed themselves under a commander 
who had' thus neglected them? No, sir; they would 
have turned in disgust from a service where devotion 
to country and innumerable hardships were repaid 
only with neglect and ingratitude by their General and 
their country. 

I would also call attention to another incident in 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 331 

the history of this great man — an incident which shows 
that he possessed, in a most remarkable degree, a trait 
of character wliich so pecnharly distinguishes a great 
warrior. I allude to the incident which occurred dur- 
ing the Creek war, when his troops, harassed by 
fatiguing marches, and imtated by scanty food and the 
machinations of uneasy spmts, were about to revolt 
and leave his standard. In the moment of siifferins: 
and anger, and overlooking their duty to their country, 
they openly refused to be longer detained in its ser- 
vice ; at the moment they were about to abandon him, 
he seized a musket, and, placing himself before the 
revolted brigade, one thousand five hundred strong, told 
them what they owed to their country ; and declared 
that he would slay the first who attempted to abandon 
his duty; they might fly from that duty, but they 
should only do so by passing over his dead body. The 
troops, convinced by his stem reasoning, mortified at 
the humbling contrast which their conduct presented 
to his, and admiring the devotion and firmness of their 
commander, returned to their duty. 

Such is the man 'to whom we are called on now to 
extend justice — a man avIio never shrank from a duty 
when his country's good demanded its performance — 
though that duty involved a responsihUity however fear- 
fid — though it may have required him to lay down his 
life. Tor his devotion to his comitry, that country has 



332 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

honored liim — ^he has received the highest honors in its 
gift ; and he requires no painting, as suggested by the 
Senator from Louisiana, to commemorate his pubhc ser- 
vices, or to perpetuate in the bosom of his countrymen 
the gratitude which true patriotism feels towards the 
true patriot — a gratitude which will extend through 
all generations, as long as a love of country shall exist, 
and his deeds, delineated by the pencil of Truths shall 
remain recorded upon the page of history. 

If, indeed, historical paintings are to be made, in 
order to illustrate the character of General Jackson, I 
would suggest that the incident to which I have just 
alluded furnish the subject for one. Let him be sho^vn 
standing, unaided, with a musket in his hands, sternly 
opposing fifteen hundred angry, half-famished men, 
and, at the hazard of his life, checking their revolt, and 
bringing them back to reason and duty. This would 
tend to exhibit his undaunted courage, his firmness, 
and his unyielding determination in the discharge of a 
high trust. 

I would also point to another trait of his character 
— ^liis patient hardihood while in the service of his 
country — proved by another incident in the Creek war, 
which could be made the subject of an interesting 
painting, and would represent him destitute of food, 
fatigued by marches and by watchings, and supplying 
the pressing calls of hunger by the acorns which he 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 333 

gathered as lie passed under tlie forest trees, rather than 
abandon an exposed frontier to the tomahawk and 
scalping-knife of a savage and remorseless enemy. If 
you would represent him as the fiiend of order and the 
protector of the law, and at the same time exhibit his 
magnanimity of soul, place upon canvas that blight 
moment of his history, when, at New Orleans, he bowed 
to the sentence of the judge, and, while with one hand 
he yielded an unjust penalty to the demands of the law, 
with the other he staid the angiy waves of popular 
commotion, advancing to overwhelm the tribunal by 
whom the penalty was exacted. Would you commem- 
orate his humanity ? Then represent him in his tent, 
after one of the bloodv battles with the Creeks, taking 
charge of an infant Indian boy, found upon its dead 
mother's breast, and Avhich its own relations advised 
should be knocked on the head. Tliat same boy who, 
nourished on the food of the camp by him and his 
officers, and watched with care and tenderness, survived 
the dangers of a campaign — by him was fostered and 
educated — and, at seventeen years of age, died in the 
bosom of his preserver's family, beloved and lamented. 
Can the whole range of history furnish a picture sur- 
passing this in moral beauty ? 

It was not, sir, my intention to say aught tliat would 
tend to arouse the political antipathies of any one, or 
open the fountains of bitterness, now nearly dried up. 



334 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

I trust I have not. I have considered the question be- 
fore the Senate, from the very beginning, as one which, 
of all others, should be discussed without a reference to 
pohtical misunderstandings ; and for the reason, that 
the character of our country is involved in the manner 
of its discussion, as well as in the result. For it does 
not follow that those who were opposed to General 
Jackson during his political or civU life, are called on to 
throw obstacles in the way of this bill. May they not 
with candor and justice, yield theii' support to it ? To 
me it seems that the whole case lies in a very narrow 
compass : — a case which, guided alone by common 
sense and justice, was decided upon instantly and 
correctly by the whole population of New Orleans, be- 
fore whose eyes all the circumstances transpired. This 
decision has been confirmed by the entire country ; and 
it remains only for us, by the cold act of justice which 
we are now called upon to perform, to confirm this 
universal verdict, and to deprive all time to come of a 
vestio;e of the wrono; which has been done him. Aside 
from the imperative duty which devolves upon us, I 
would ask Senators if there is one here who would 
hesitate in giving his vote for this bill, were it hid to 
cheer the heart of the venerable patriot, and render 
more calm his last moments, by the reflection that the 
evidence of his country's confidence and justice is now 
entire ? Exalted old man ! Though we may never 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 335 

again look into those eyes wliicli never winked at 
clanger, nor behold again that venerable and dignified 
form, now bending with the load of years over the 
verge of eternity, the recollection of yon, or yonr glori- 
ous deeds, can never be effaced from our memories ! 

How many precedents we have to direct us in our 
duty ! — how great the debt which would urge us to 
adopt them ! A little while since we voted twenty-five 
thousand dollars to the familv of General Harrison, as 
a mere donation. Yet a little Avhile more, and the 
greatest light of the land will be set in the gloom of 
the grave. At such a time, and under such circum- 
stances, ought the money taken from General Jackson, 
without trial, by the decision of an incensed judge, to 
be withheld ? Not that he has asked us for it, or wants 
it as a pecuniary aid ; but because it will tend to smooth 
his way to the grave, by showing that the Senate of 
the United States looked upon his conduct at New 
Orleans as justifiable — his motives as pure — and as an 
example to future generals to do likcAAise under similar 
circumstances. 'Let gentlemen refuse this, and were I 

'~posed to make that refusal a political question, I 
aid take in one hand this bill, and in the other the 

:t giving to the heirs of General Harrison twenty-five 
thousand dollars ; and, going before a grateful people 
with them, could any one doubt what would be the 
result? No, sir, no. General Jackson is above the 



336 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

charity of the Senate, as he is beyond its praise or 
blame ; neither he nor his friends desire any thing more 
than jnstice at yonr hands. They consider your trea- 
smy as disgraced while it retains the money wrung from 
him in the performance of a noble duty nobly per- 
formed. Then let it be returned, and in no ungracious 
or ambiguous spirit ; return it in the same manner as 
you have to all others under similar circumstances — 
even to your humblest custom-house officers. By so 
doing, you will avoid the imputation that, had he been 
less — much less — in the eyes of the world than he is, 
your justice would have been more freely dispensed." 

The efforts made by Dr. Linn to procure the pas- 
sage of the bill to remit General Jackson's fine, were 
labors of love. His whole heart and soul were in it. 
Viewing the subject in the light that he did, he con- 
sidered the fine as a great piece of injustice inflicted 
upon him, and that this injustice had been suffered to 
go unremoved and unrebuked for a long period of time. 
General Jackson was now standing on the verge of the 
grave, and if the removal of what he considered " the 
only obloquy that rested on his name "was to be effected 
before his death, so as to afford him any satisfaction, it 
must be done with the least possible delay. Such were 
the motives that prompted the action and the zeal of Dr. 
Linn. They were honorable, manly, just and humane. 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 337 

To do justice was his great object ; and it woidd prob- 
ably have been one of the happiest moments of his hfe 
had he Hved a few months longer, when the bill to 
remit the fine became a law, and he conld ha^•e informed 
his friend, the General, that the fine was at last re- 
mitted, and the obloquy resting npon his name had 
been wiped out by his country's own hand and act. 
But though the bill passed the Senate it did not pass 
the House, at that time, nor become a law until Feb- 
ruary, 1844, about four months after the Doctor had 
been called hence. He had, however, given it such an 
impetus by advocating it with so much zeal and earnest- 
ness, that its final passage was undoubtedly due to his 
efforts in endeavoring to effect the consummation of the 
measure. 

What General Jackson's feelings were towards him 
on account of the part he had taken, will be seen in 
the following letter adcbessed by him to Mrs. Linn very 
soon after the bill had passed the Senate, every sentence 
of which glows Avith warm and grateful regard. 

Letter from Gen. Andrew Jackson to Mrs. Linn. 

Hermitage, June 14, 1842. 
My Dear Friend, — Although very feeble in health, 
I cannot refrain from dro})ping you a few lines to ex- 
press my pleasure and gratitude for the greatest act of 

friendship that I ever received, which has been be- 
22 



338 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

stowed on me by your dear, patriotic husband, and my 
faithful and kind friend, Dr Linn, in the late bill which 
he brought through the U. S. Senate, indemnifying me 
in discharging my official duty in establishing martial 
law in the City of New Orleans, when called there to 
defend it, diuring our late war with England. The 
Doctor's speech in my behalf to the Senate on this 
occasion has made my heart overflow with gratitude and 
love to him, and as long as I live I will cherish and 
revere him as my best friend. I have often told you 
and the Doctor that although the Eternal One had 
blessed me with so many good friends and dear objects 
to love, that I sometimes felt very desolate when I re- 
flected that not a drop of my blood flowed in the veins 
of one of the human family ; and all that I had to 
leave my country was a good name. And how can I 
express all the gratitude I feel to the benefactor who 
has wiped off the only obloquy that I thought might 
rest on my name ? You, my dear Mrs. Linn, who know 
me so well, can judge of my deep and grateful feelings 
towards your husband for this noble act of kindness to 
me. liow often have I said to you that from the first 
moment I beheld Dr. Linn I felt my heart drawn 
most warmly to him. I have written to him, expressing 
my great desire that he would come to see me, and to 
be sure to bring you and your children with him. I 
hope that your little daughter looks like her lovely de- 



LIFE OF DR. LINN. 339, 

parted sister Jane, who was as dear to me as if she had 
been my ovfn chikl. My daughter unites with nie in 
much love to you and yom's, and sincerely hopes that 
you and the Doctor will come to see us very soon. God 
bless you all. 

Yom* affectionate friend, 

Andrew Jackson. 
To Mrs. E. A. R. Linn. 

But Dr. Linn's labors did not cease with the failure 
of the bill at th(; time the foregoing speech was de- 
livered. It was brought fonvard again by him at the 
next session — 1842-'3, when, after debate in the Senate 
in which he bore a conspicuous part, it again passed 
that body, February 28, 1843, 28 to 20, but failed in 
the House. His effort on this occasion, just at the close 
of the last session of the 27th Congress, and the last 
of his senatorial career, was the closing act of his pub- 
lic life. Little as he could foresee that when the bill 
passed the Senate his pubic labors were virtually finished, 
it can scarcely be doubted that, could the fact have been 
known to him, he would not have desired that any other 
act of his in the discharge of his duty as a senator, 
should have been his opus corotius. Upon the passage 
of the bill, had the futiu-e been revealed to him, he 
would have said to senators with whom he had been so 
long and so agreeably associated, " My labors are now 



340 LIFE OF DR. LINN. 

closed. I have conscientiously endeavored to perform 
my duty as became an American senator: my only 
guide has been the pubhc good : I have endeavored to 
be just, and have not feared to be so : all the ends I 
have aimed at have been my country's, my God's, and 
truth's. The destinies of our beloved country are in 
yom- hands : — obey the Constitution ; presen e the 
Union ; may it be perpetual : may it grow in greatness ; 
abound in wise, patriotic, able statesmen, and set a 
noble example to all others of Justice, Moderation, 
Wisdom, Intelligence, and Virtue." 



APPENDIX. 



PEOCEEDINGS OF COXGRESS. OF TilE CITY OF ST. LOUIS, OF THE ST. 

LOUIS MEDICAL SOCIKTV, <>r THE LEGISLATURES OF 

WISCOXSI.V AND IOWA. AND OTHER 

CORPORATE BODIES, 

ON THE OCCASION OF 

THE DEATH OF D\\. LINX; 

ALSO, 

LETTEUS OF COXDOLEXCE ADDRESSED TO MRS, LINX, FROM 
DISTINGUISHED MEN, ON THAT OCCASION. 



APPENDIX. 



TRIBUTES OF RESPECT 



MEMORY OF DR. L. F. LINN, 



U. S. SENATE.— December 12, 1843. 

The journal having been read Mr. Benton rose and 
said : 

Mr. President, I rise to make the Senate a formal 
communication of an event which has occurred during the 
recess, and has been heard by all with deep regret. My 
colleague and friend, the late Senator Linn, departed this 
life on Tuesday, the 3d day of October last, at the early 
age of forty-eight years, and without the warnings or the 
sufferings which usually precede our departure from this 
world. He laid him down to sleep and awoke no more. 
It was to him the sleep of death ! and the only drop of 
consolation in this sudden and calamitous visitation was, 
that it took place in his own house, and that his uncon- 
scious remains were immediately surrounded by his family 
and friends, and received all the care and aid wliich love 
and skill could give. 

I discharge a mournful duty, Mr. Pjesident, in bringing 



\ 



344 APPENDIX. 

his deplorable event to the formal notice of the Senate ; 
in offering the public tribute of my applause to the many 
virtues of my deceased colleague, and in asking for his 
memory the last honors which respect and affection of the 
S3nate bestow upon the name of a deceased brother. 

Lewis Field Linn, the subject of this annunciation, 
was born in the State of Kentucky, in the year 1795, in 
the immediate vicinity of Louisville. His grandfather was 
Colonel William Linn, one of the favorite officers of 
General George Sogers Clarke, and well known for his 
courage and enterj)rise in the early settlement of the great 
West. At the age of eleven, he had fought in the ranks 
of men in the defence of a station in Western Pennsylva- 
nia, and was seen to deliver a deliberate and effective fire. 
He was one of the first to navigate the Ohio and Missis- 
sippi from Pittsburg to New Orleans, and back again — a 
daring achievement, which himself and some others ac- 
complished for the public service, and amidst every species 
of danger, in the year 1776. He was killed by the Indians 
at an early period ; leaving a family of young children, of 
whom the worthy Colonel William Pope (father of Gov. 
Pope, and head of the numerous and respectable family 
of tliat name in the West) became the guardian. The 
father of Senator Linn was among these children ; and, 
at an early age, skaiting upon the ice near Louisville, with 
three other boys, he was taken prisoner by the Shawanee 
Indians, carried off and detained captive for three years, 
when all four made their escape and returned home by 
killing their guard, traversing some hundred miles of wil- 
derness, and swimming the Ohio Kiver, The mother of 
Senator Linn was a Pennsylvanian by birth ; her maiden 
name Hunter ; born at Carlisle ; and also had heroic 
blood in her veins. Tradition, if not history, preserves the 
recollection of her courage and conduct at Fort Jefferson, 



APPENDIX. 345 

at the Iron Banks in 1781, where the Indians attacked 
and were repulsed from that post. Women and boys were 
men in those days. 

The father of Senator Linn died yoimg, leaving- this 
son hut eleven years of age. The cares of an elder brother 
supplied (as far as such a loss could be supplied) the loss 
of a father ; and under his auspices the education of the 
orphan was conducted. He was intended for the medical 
profession, and received his education, scholastic and ju'O- 
fessional, in the State of his nativity. At an early age he 
was qualified for the practice of medicine, and commenced 
it in the then Territory now State of Missouri ; and was 
immediately amongst the foremost of his profession. In- 
tuitive sagacity supplied in him the place of long exi)eri- 
ence ; and boundless benevolence conciliated universal 
esteem. To all his patients he was the same ; flying with 
alacrity to every call, attending upon the poor and humble 
as zealously as on the rich and iioweiful, on the stranger 
as readily as on the neighbor, discharging to all the duties 
of nurse and friend as well as physician, and wholly re- 
gardless of his own interest or even his own health, in his 
zeal to serve and to save others. 

The highest professional honors and rewards were before 
liini. Though commencing on a pro\dncial theatre, there 
was not a capital in Europe or America in which he would 
not have obtained the first rank in physic or surgery. But 
his fellow-citizens perceived in his varied abilities capacity 
and aptitude for service in a different walk. He was called 
into the political field by an election to the Senate of his 
adopted State. Thence he was called to the performance 
of judicial duties by a federal appointment to investigate 
land titles. Thence he was called to the high station of 
Senator in the Congress of the United States — first by an 
executive appointment, then by three successive almost 



346 APPENDIX. 

unanimous elections. The last of those elections he re- 
ceived hut one year ago, and had not commenced his duties 
under it — had not sworn in under the certificate which 
attested it — when a sudden and premature death put an 
end to his earthly career. He entered this hody in the 
year 1833, death dissolved his connection with it in 1843. 
For ten years he was a beloved and distinguished member 
of this body, and surely a nobler or a finer character never 
adorned the chamber of the American Senate. 

He was my friend, but I speak not the language of 
friendship when I speak his praise. A debt of justice is 
all that I can attempt to discharge : an imperfect copy of 
the true man is all that I can attempt to paint. 

A sagacious head and a feeling heart were the great 
characteristics of Dr. Linn. He had a judgment which 
penetrated both men and things and gave him near and 
clear views of far distant events. He saw at once the 
bearing — the remote bearing of great measures, either for 
good or for evil, and brought instantly to their suj)port or 
opposition the logic of a prompt and natural eloquence 
more beautiful in its delivery and more effective in its ap- 
phcation than any that art can bestow. He had great 
fertility of mind, and was liimself the author and mover 
of many great measures — some for the benefit of the whole 
Union — some for the benefit of the great West — some for 
the benefit of his own State — many for the benefit of in- 
dividuals. The pages of our legislative history will bear 
the evidences of these meritorious labors to a remote and 
grateful posterity. 

Brilliant as were the quaUties of his head, the quahties 
of his heart still eclipse them. It is to the heart we look 
for the character of the man ; and what a heart had 
Lewis Linn ! The kindest, the gentlest, the most feeling, 
and the most generous that ever beat in the bosom of a 



APPENDIX. 347 

bearded man ! And yet, when the occasion required it, 
the bravest and the most daring also. He never beheld 
a case of human wot without melting before it, he never 
encountered an apparition of earthly danger without giv- 
ing it defiance. AVhere is the friend, or even the stranger, 
in danger or distress to whose succor he did not fly, and 
whose sorrowful or perilous case he did not make liis own ? 
When — where — was he ever called upon for a service or a 
sacrifice and rendered not, upon the instant, the one or the 
other as the occasion required ? 

The senatorial service of this rare man fell upon trying 
times — liigh party times — when the collisions of party too 
often embittered the ardent feelings of generous natures ; 
but who ever knew bitterness or party animosities in him ? 
He was, indeed, a party-man — as true to his party as to 
his friends and his country ; but beyond the line of duty 
and of principle — beyond the debate and the vote — he 
knew no party and saw no opponent. Who among us all, 
even after the fiercest debate, ever met him without meet- 
ing the benignant smile and the kind salutation ? Who 
of us all ever needed a friend without finding one in him ? 
Who of us all was ever stretched upon the bed of sickness 
without findinii; him at its side ? Who of us all ever 
knew a personal difiiculty of which he was not, as far as 
possible, the kind composer ? 

Such was Senator Linn in high jiarty times among us. 
And what he was here among us he was every where and 
with every body. At home among his friends and neigh- 
bors ; on the high road among casual acc^uaintances ; in 
foreign lands among strangers ; in all and in every of 
these situations he was the same thing. He had kindness 
and sympathy for every human being ; and the whole 
voyage of his life was one continued and benign circum- 
navigation of all the virtues which adorn and exalt the 



348 APPENDIX. 

character of man ; piety, cliarity, benevolence, generosity, 
courage, patriotism, fidelity, all slione conspicuously in 
him, and might extort from the beholder the impressive 
interrogatory, For lohat place was this man made / Was 
it for the Senate or the camp ? For public or for private 
life ? For the bar or the bench ? For the art which heals 
the diseases of the bodv, or that which cures the infirmi- 
ties of the State ? For which of all these was he born ? 
And the answer is. For all. He was born to fill the largest 
and most varied circle of human excellence ; and to crown 
all these advantages, nature had given him what the great 
Lord Bacon calls a perpetual letter of recommendation — 
a countenance not only good, but sweet and winning — 
radiant with the virtues of his soul — captivating universal 
confidence ; and such as no stranger could behold — no 
traveller, even in the desert, could meet, without stopping 
to reverence, and saying : Here is a man in whose hands 
I could deposit my life, liberty, fortune, honor. Alas ! 
that so much excellence should have perished so soon ! 
that such a man should have been snatched away at the 
early age of forty-eight, and while his faculties were still 
ripening and developing ! 

In the life and character of such a man, so exuberant 
in all that is grand and beautiful in human nature, it is 
difiicult to particularize excellencies or to pick out any one 
quality or circumstance which could claim pre-eminence 
over aU others. If I should attempt it, I should point, 
among his measures for the benefit of the whole Union, to 
the Oregon bill ; among his measures for the benefit of 
his own State, to the acquisition of the Platte country ; 
among his private virtues to the love and afiection which 
he bore to that half-brother — the half-brother only — who, 
only thirteen years older than himself, had been to him 
the tenderest of fathers. For twenty-nine years I had 



APPENDIX. 349 

known the clei^tli of that affection, and never saw it burn 
more brightly than in our last interview, only three weeks 
before bis death. He bad just travelled a thousand miles 
out of bis way to see that brother ; and liis name was still 
the dearest theme of bis conversation — a conversation, 
strange to tell ! which turned, not upon the empty and 
fleeting subjects of the day, but upon things solid and 
eternal — upon friendship and upon death, and ujjon the 
duties of the living and the dead. He spoke of two fiiends 
whom it was natural to believe that he should survive, and 
to whose memories he intended to pay the debt of friend- 
ship. Vain calculation ! Vain impulsion of generosity 
and friendship ! One of these two friends now discharges 
that mournful debt to him ; the other [General Jackson] 
has written me a letter, exi)ressing his " deep soi'voiu for 
the untimely death of oiir friend, Dr. Linn." 

Mr, Benton then moved the usual resolutions of re- 
spect. 

Mr, Ckittenden then rose and said : I rise, Mr. 
President, to second the motion of the Hon. Senator from 
Missouri, and to express my cordial concurrence in the 
resolutions he has offered. 

The highest tribute of our respect is justly due to the 
honored name and memory of Senator Linn ; and there 
is not a heart here that does not pay it freely and plente- 
ously. These resolutions are but responsive to the general 
feeling that prevails throughout the land, and will afford 
to his widow and his orphans the consolatory evidence 
that their country shares their grief, and mourns for their 
bereavement. 

I am very sensible, Mr. President, that the very 
appropriate, interesting, and eloquent remarks of the 
Senator from Missouri (Mr. Benton) have made it diffi- 
cult to add any thing that will not impair the effect of 



350 APPENDIX. 

what he has said ; but I must beg the indulgence of the 
Senate for a few moments. Senator Linn was by birth a 
Kentuckian, and my countryman. I do not dispute the 
claims of Missouri, his adopted State ; but I wish it to 
be remembered, that I claim for Kentucky the honor of 
his nativity ; and by the great law that regulates such 
precious inheritances, a portion, at least, of his fame must 
descend to his native land. It is the just ambition and 
right of Kentucky to gather together the bright names of 
her children, no matter in what lands their bodies may be 
buried, and to preserve them as her jewels and her crown. 
The name of Linn is one of her jewels ; and its pure and 
unsullied lustre shall long remain as one of her richest 
ornaments. 

The death of such a man is a national calamity. 
Long a distinguished member of this body, he was con- 
tinually rewarded with the increasing confidence of the 
great State he so honorably represented ; and his reputa- 
tion and usefulness increased at every step of his progress. 

In the Senate his death is most sensibly felt. We 
hai lost a colleague and friend, whose noble and amiable 
qualities bound us to him as with "hooks of steel." 
Who of us that knew him can forget his open, frank, and 
manly bearing — that smile, that seemed to be the pure, 
warm sunshine of the heart, and the thousand courtesies 
and kindnesses that gave a " daily beauty to his life ? " 

He possessed a high order of intellect ; was resolute, 
courageous, and ardent in all his pursuits. A decided 
party man, he participated largely and conspicuously in 
the business of the Senate and the conflicts of its 
debates ; but there was a kindliness and benignity about 
him, that, like polished armor, turned aside all feelings of 
ill-will or animosity. He had political opponents in the 
Senate, but not one enemy. 



APPENDIX. 351 

The good and generous qualities of our nature were 
blended in his character ; 

" and the elements 



So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up 
And say to all the world — This was a man." 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

A message from the Senate, announcing the death of 
Dr. Linn, having been received, 

Mr. BoAVLiN, of Missouri, rose and addressed the House 
as follows : 

I rise with no ordinary- emotions — occasioned, par- 
tially by the novelty of my own position; but more, 
much more, by the recollection of the painful and melan- 
choly event which now demands the tribute of our grief. 
It is, indeed, a painful, a most painful event to me ; and 
one calculated, from its associations, to spread the gloom 
of melancholy over the councils now assembled. We 
have convened here for the discharge of our public duties, 
and we look around us in vain for all those comjianions in 
our labors whom wc were wont to have met. The hand 
of Deatli, inexorable Death, has been amongst us.— In 
the other end of the Capitol, a seat is vacated ; ah ! 
vacated, and that for ever. The heart of its occupant, 
which in life ever beat responsive to the calls of charity 
and humanity, now beats no more ; and the tongue, 
whose patriotic eloquence has charmed the Senate, is now 
stilled by the dull, cold hand of Death. 

The Hon. Lewis F. Linn, late Senator from Missouri, 
as announced by the resolutions on your table, is no more. 
He died suddenly at his residence in St. Genevieve, on 



352 APPENDIX. 

the 3d day of October last, just as he was preparing to 
leave for this, the field of his distinguished labors. The 
manner of his death was peculiarly afflicting to his 
friends. It was as sudden as it was unexpected. In the 
midst of life and usual health — with no note of warning 
to his friends — without- the usual premonitory symptoms 
— without, perhaps, an admonition to himself — in the 
midst of his family and friends, and in the mid career 
of his usefulness and honor, he is suddenly summoned 
from us to that land of spirits where " the weary are at 

rest." 

Having spent a restless and sleepless night, he had the 
curtains of the bed drawn to secure to him a morning's 
repose. He fell into a sleep, a profound sleep, from which 
he never awoke. And though his couch was watched 
with the sleepless eye of affectionate devotion, separated 
only by a curtain, yet his spirit passed away so calm, so 
tranquil, that it was difficult to tell the precise moment 
of its flight. But though he died with no eye upon him, 
save that of his God, yet the mildness and serenity of his 
countenance proclaimed the consolation to his friends, 
trumpet-tongued, that he departed in peace, and with 
scarce a struggle. 

Of his life : It was one continued scene of uniformity 
and beauty. But I will not trespass upon the province 
of his biographer, further than to touch some of its 
prominent points. He was born in the Stnte of Ken- 
tucky in the year 1795, and inherited from that chival- 
rous and gallant people many of the noble qualities that 
adorned him in after hfe. In the year 1809— a mere boy 
— he emigrated to Missouri, and cast his fortune among a 
people eager to discern, and proud to reward merit. In 
1814, at the age of seventeen years, he entered the tented 
field, and, side by side with a near and esteemed relative, 



APPENDIX. 353 

now an honorable member of this House, (Gov. Dodge,) 
was engaged gallantly fighting the battles of his country ; 
and though a youth, too young to have his deeds chroni- 
cled in history, yet the memory of them is cherished in 
the hearts of the people of his adopted State. 

After the war he applied himself to the acquisition of 
his profession ; and by the force and energy of his mind 
and his well-regulated habits of industry, soon placed 
himself in the front ranks of that learned and honorable 
profession. As a physician he was jiromjot and deter- 
mined, yet mild, courteous, and cheerful ; by the versa- 
tility of his genius throwing around the couch of sickness 
and death every thing to inspire hope and dispel gloom. 
No man was ever more highly esteemed or more dearly 
loved within the circle of his practice. Long, long, 
will the memory of his virtues be engraven on the hearts 
of those people who knew him longest, and knew him 
best. 

He was next called, by the people of liis county, to 
the Legislature of his adopted State, where, in a short 
session, he gave early promise of that character as a legis- 
lator, which has since so brilliantly shone in the councils 
of the nation. His career there was marked by an 
enlightened policy, a lofty patriotism, and a firm and un- 
swerving devotion to those fundamental principles upon 
which he believed was based the liberty of his country. 
The generous confidence of his constituents was only 
equalled by the disinterested fidelity of the representative, 
in executing the trusts committed to his charge. 

In 1832, he was appointed one of the board of com- 
missioners to adjust the private land claims of the ancient 
inhabitants of Ui)per Louisiana, (now Missouri.) To the 
discharge of the complicated duties of this office he 
brought a mind well stored with information upon the 
23 



354 APPENDIX. 

subject, and an energy that never flagged. In this place 
he accomplished much, in settling the vexed questions of 
titles to our lands, and by the suavity of his manners, and 
the uniform urbanity of his demeanor, won from all the 
homage of an exalted respect. Indeed, it would be diffi- 
cult to portray the veneration in which his memory is held 
by those early first pioneers of the country who laid in the 
wilderness the foundation of a great republic. 

If it were allowable, upon an occasion of this kind, to 
speak of one's self, I might be permitted to say that it 
was at this period of liis life, I had the good fortune to 
make his acquaintance, and establish a mutual friendship 
which existed through life. A stranger in a strange land, 
he extended to me the hand of fellowship and welcome, 
and encouraged me by his counsels, and animated me by 
the buoyancy of liis own generous heart. A few weeks 
changed our then relative positions — he to the Senate, I 
to the editor's chair ; and it is due to his memory to say, 
that change of position worked no change of relations ; 
and I can as proudly bear testimony that, whilst acting as 
a sentinel upon the acts of public men, I found in his 
career every thing to applaud, nothing to condemn. 

Doctor Linn was appointed to the Senate in Novem- 
ber, 1833, and continued in that station until the period 
of his death — an uninterrupted period of nearly ten 
years ; during which time he passed through three elec- 
tions before the Legislature of Missouri, each time increas- 
ing in strength, as he increased in the confidence of the 
people. He entered that body, of which he was destined 
to become so distinguished a member, laboring under 
many disadvantages, arising alike from education and 
from habits. The angry ocean of party jjolitics he found 
lashed into a commotion the most furious ; the Senate 
filled with men of gigantic minds, cultivated intellects, 



APPENDIX. 355 

and a long experience in legislation ; and, to crown all, so 
much possessed of feelings which political animosities had 
engendered as to render personal and social intercourse 
ditficult and constrained. Yet, by his evenness of temper 
and firmness of purpose, combined with his social disposi- 
tion and urbanity of manners, he soon acquired a most 
enviable respect from those with whom he had to act. 

Of his general labors in the Senate, and the enlight- 
ened patriotism that directed them, the archives of the 
country bear abundant testimony. On all local subjects 
he labored faithfully and efficiently for his immediate con- 
stituents. His unabated efforts in obtaining post roads, 
forts, and military roads upon the frontier ; the acquisi- 
tion of the Platte country ; the improvement of our 
rivers and harbors ; the adjustment of the land claims of 
the ancient inhabitants of Upper Louisiana, bear witness 
to the people of Missouri of the zeal and fidelity of him 
whose loss they so sadly deplore. 

But the great question which called forth all the ener- 
gies of his mind vras the occupation of the Oregon Terri- 
tory. Looking at the subject with a prophetic spirit, and 
the eye of a statesman, he saw, in the distance, the time 
when that beautiful land of hill and dale, of mountain 
breeze and crystal stream, should bloom and blossom as 
the rose, beneath the cheerful hand of industry ; and he 
struggled hard to plant alike on the beautiful plains the 
American citizen and the American flag. This was the 
great work to which he had for years devoted all the ener- 
gies of his soul ; and, without repining at the awards of 
Providence, we all must regret, seriously regret, that he 
was not spared to witness its accomplishment. But he 
has left it for others to perform, with his own great efforts 
as beacon lights to guide them on their way, and associ- 
ated with the cause of Oregon the glory of a name. 



356 APPENDIX. 

"A light, a land-mark, on tlie cliffs of fame." 

But he is gone ; and while we deplore his loss, let us 
not be unmindful of those who are left to mourn — ah ! 
deeply mourn, a husband's and a father's death. Who 
can assuage their grief ? Who pluck the rooted sorrow 
from their hearts ? He alone who " tempers the winds to 
the shorn lamb." To His mercy and Divine protection 
we most humbly commend them. 

Resolved unanimously, That, as a testimony of respect 
for the memory of the Hon. L. F, Linn, deceased, the 
members of this House will wear the usual badge of 
mourning for thirty days ; and that the House do now 
adjourn. 

So the resolution was agreed to. 

And the House adjourned. 



LEGISLATURE OF IOWA. 

Mr. Foley, the attentive and worthy member of the 
House of Eepresentatives from Jackson County, presented 
the following resolutions, which passed the House unani- 
mously on the 19th instant, and were concurred in by the 
Council on the 20th. 

Resolved, by the Council and House of Eepresenta- 
tives of the Territory of Iowa, That each member of the 
respective Houses be requested to wear crape on the left 
arm for the space of 30 days, as a testimony of respect to 
the memory of the Hon. Lewis F. Linn, late a Senator of 
the United States from the State of Missouri. 

Resolved, That we respectfully tender the bereaved 
and afflicted family of the distinguished statesman, the 



APPENDIX. 357 

assurances of our sympathy and condolence, and that a 
copy of these Kesolutions be forwarded to the widow of 
the deceased by the Speaker of the House of Kepresenta- 
tives and the President of the Council. 

During the pendency before the House of the foregoing 
resokitions, Mr. Eogers from Dubuque arose and made the 
following brief and appropriate remarks : 

Mr. Speaker : — I hope the Kesolution of my friend 
from Jackson, will pass without a dissenting vote. They 
are an appropriate tribute of respect to the memory of a 
much lamented and distinguished public man. 

Dr. Linn was the warm and devoted friend of this 
Territory. His zeal, on all occasions, in our behalf, won 
for him the name of the " Iowa Senator," and our citizens 
will not soon forget the services which rendered the appel- 
lation deserved. His loss is nearly as severely felt by us, 
as by his own State. Cut down in the vigor of life — in 
the midst of his usefulness — with groat and glorious 
projects upon his hands unfinislied ; dropping from the 
theatre of his brilliant and patriotic labors, and from com- 
panions that loved and admired him, like an orb suddenly 
shaken from the heavens. He has gone to the grave fol- 
lowed by the universal regrets and sorrows of the whole 
people of the Great West, 

Death should terminate all animosities. I hope, on 
this occasion, we will sink the partisan into the patriot, 
and remember that we are Americans, having a deep and 
abiding interest in the character of our public men — their 
fame is our moral inheritance — let us cherish it with 
patriotic pride. 

Mr, Speaker, I had but a word to say, I believe that 
the adoption of these resolutions will have a good effect 
upon the living — encouraging them in the ftiithfiil dis- 



358 APPENDIX. 

charge of their duties, and at the same time evince a 
deserved respect for departed "worth. 

House of Representatives, 
Iowa City, Jan. 4th, 1844. 

To Mrs. Lewis F. Linn. 

Madam, — In pursuance to the order of the Legisla- 
ture of this Territory, we herewith inclose you a copy of 
a Joint Kesolution passed by the same, in testimony of 
respect to your departed husband. 

In connection therewith, we trust it will not be im- 
proper for us to say, that though dead, he will long live in 
the memory of the Citizens of this Territory. Time 
cannot efface the remembrance of services like his — and 
in their love his memory wiU find " a monument more 
lasting than brass." 

Allow us furthermore, to assure you. Madam, that you 
mourn not alone, over the loss of one, so gifted, and whose 
promise of extended usefulness, was so fair. Though he 
fell in the midst of his unfinished plans, the whole West, 
whose champion he was, feels that it has lost its ablest 
defender and its most zealous and untiring advocate. 

That he died universally regretted, and after a well- 
spent hfe, are not, however, we feel assured, the only 
sources of consolation to you. Eeligion presents her 
soothing and consohng influence. She points to a higher 
and nobler sphere of enjoyment, and she tells of a holier 
union, hereafter, of the loved ones that have separated 
upon earth. May you in eternity enjoy that union, with 
the husband who has been thus suddenly and unexpect- 
edly called away. 



APPENDIX. 359 

With sentiments of respect and esteem we remain 
your obedient servants, 

James P, Carletox, 
Speaker of House of Kepresentatives. 
Francis Springer, 
President of the Council. 



LEGISLATURE OF AVISCONSIN. 

The proceedings of tlie Legislature relative to the 
death of Dr. Linn, were due to the memory of the 
deceased, for the solicitude whicli he ever manifested for 
the welfare of this Territory, as well as for the benefits 
which it has derived from his labors. 

The remarks of Mr. Strong of Wisconsin, as well as 
the sentiments embodied in his resolutions, will be re- 
sponded to by every citizen who has noted the official 
course of the truly upright and generous Statesman to 
whose memory they are offered. 

Mr. Strong of Wisconsin rose, to offer certain resolu- 
tions, and prefaced their introduction with the following 
remarks. 

Mr. President — I rise for the purpose of asking leave 
of the Council to offer certain joint resolutions, expressing 
the great regret which the Legislative Assembly feels for 
the death of that great and good man, Lewis F. Linn, 
late a Senator in Congress from the State of Missouri, 
ancT to present some slight tribute of respect for his mem- 
ory ; and I feel sure, tliat all who know his cliaracter, 
and especially all wlio have liad the pleasure, as I have, 
of forming his personal accpiaintanco, will readily unite 
with me in performing this melancholy duty. 



360 APPENDIX. 

He was emphatically tlie friend of Wisconsin, as he 
was of the whole West ; the active part he has always 
taken on the floor of the United States Senate, in sujiport 
of every measure which had for its object the advance- 
ment of our interests, cannot but have endeared him to 
every citizen of the Territory, and have satisfied all that 
in him we have lost a friend whose place we can 
scarcely hope to see filled. Dr. Linn, wherever he moved, 
whether in political or private circles, was the beloved 
of all, and it can be said of him with as much truth pro- 
bably as of any man that ever lived, that he was without 
an enemy. But an overruling Providence has removed 
him from earth ; and as we can do no more, I hope we 
shall do no less, than offer to his memory the humble 
tribute of respect contained in the resolutions I hold in 
my hand. 

Mr. Strong then submitted the following, which were 
adopted : 

Resolved, By the Council (if the House of Represen- 
tatives concur), That the Legislative Assembly of the 
Territory of Wisconsin have learned, with feelings of the 
greatest regret, the death of the Hon. Lewis F. Linn, late 
a Senator in Congress from the State of Missouri ; that by 
his death his family have been dej)rived of a most affec- 
tionate and amiable head ; Congress of a true Patriot and 
able Statesman ; his own State of a most faithful and 
efficient Representative ; the whole West of a firm and ever 
ready advocate of its best interests, and the Territory of 
Wisconsin in particular of one who has been on all occa- 
sions its resolute and devoted friend ; and to whom it is 
deeply indebted for his zealous activity in her behalf, in 
the body of which he was a member. 

Resolved, That as a testimony of the respect which 
the Legislative Assembly of the Territory entertain for 



APPENDIX. 361 

the memory of the Hon. Lewis F. Linn, both Houses will 
immediately adjourn, after resolving that each member, 
shall wear crape on his left arm in respect to his memory, 
for thirty days. The Council thereupon adjourned. 



TRIBUTES OF RESPECT TO LEWIS F. LINN. 

The citizens of St. Louis, without distinction of party, 
are requested to meet at the Court House on Wednesday 
evening, the 11th instant, at 7^ o'clock, to express their 
regret at the sudden deatli of the Hon. Lewis F. Linn, 
U. S. Senator from Missouri. 

St. Louis. 



How many of those inmiortal minds, whose genius has 
illustrated the histoiy of our race, have lived and died 
with no other consolation than that of seeing their opin- 
ions making way and giving freedom and happiness to 
men ! How few indeed have lived long enough to see 
this ! but rarer yet has it happened that the author of a 
great truth has survived to witness its general accejitation, 
or reap the reward which a distant posterity alone bestows 
in its homage and veneration of his name. 



"O" 



The foregoing sentiments of an able contemporary, are 
particularly applicable to the recent and sudden death of 
the Hon. Lewis F. Linn. His favorite measure was the 
immediate occupation and settlement of the Oregon Ter- 
ritory by American citizens. His enlightened mind led 
him to perceive the importance of maintaining our title 
to that region by encouraging its early settlement, and 
extending to those who might check our progress west- 



362 APPENDIX. 

ward, before we had reached the Pacific Ocean. The cor- 
rectness of his " Oregon Bill," has already been fully 
proved by the impetus given to emigration thither, even 
by the probability of its adoption by the Federal Govern- 
ment ; but he was not spared to witness its enactment — 
to behold the triumph of those views which he had so 
long urged with determined zeal and far-reaching patriot- 
ism. We trust, however, that the action of the next 
Congress will award to his memory the highest praise 
which it can bestow — the approval of his views on the 
Oregon question; that it will not be left to "a distant 
posterity" to pay that tribute to his name which is so 
eminently due. 

We know that the annals of the world show melan- 
choly proofs of the fact, that great men are not always 
appreciated by the age in which they live ; but there are 
many instances on record, and the history of our Eepublic 
furnishes not a few, that those who devote their lives to 
the service of their fellowmen and of their country, are 
not always neglected by their contemporaries. 

Although Dr. Linn had not the gratification of wit- 
nessing before his death, the triumph of that policy which 
he has the honor of having first suggested, and to the 
advocacy of which he long devoted the energies of his 
whole mind, yet his constituents, regardless of party asso- 
ciations cheerfully award to him the meed of their heart- 
felt and cordial approbation. He possessed, to an extra- 
ordinary degree, those attractive qualities which endeared 
him to all who knew him, and which won the confidence 
and regard even of those who cherished different opinions, 
and who consequently were often found arrayed in opposi- 
tion to his views. Although he never deserted the party 
to which he was sincerely attached, yet his opponents 
respected his gentlemanly bearing, his chivalric character 



APPENDIX, 363 

and his true greatness, which would not suffer him to 
stoop to mean and paltry devices for success, or indulge in 
coarse and bitter invective to wound the feelings of those 
who could not view all public questions in the same light 
with himself. His mind was too enlarged, his soul too 
pure, and his aspirations too noble, to permit him to 
descend to the humihating acts which have often degraded 
the Statesmen of our own and other lands. All gave him 
credit for sincerity and patriotism, and Missouri, which 
twice honored him with a seat in the U. S. Senate, will 
not cease to cherisli his memorv as one of her brightest 
ornaments. He was a Statesman without reproach, a 
patriot without ignoble ambition, and in a word, one of 
" the noblest works of God — an honest man." Long may 
he be remembered as "the model Senator" of Missouri. 

A Whig. 



[^From the Missouri Reporter, St. Louis.'\ 

Yesterday the mournful intelligence reached this city, 
that the Hon. Lewis F. Linn, United States Senator from 
Missouri, died at his residence, in St. Genevieve, on the 
3d instant. We learn that after dinner, on the day of 
his death, he retired to his room, and was shortly after- 
wards discovered to have passed without a groan to a 
purer and better world. 

Dr. Linn suffered severely last spring from an attack 
of chronic rheumatism, and on his recovery made a visit 
to Philadelphia, New York and other eastern cities. On 
his return home, about a fortnight ago, he appeared to be 
entirely restored to health, and his family and friends had 
just begun to congratulate themrselves on his renewed 



364 APPENDIX. 

strength and activity, and the public on the bright career 
which still awaited him, when the sad truth broke upon 
them, that he whom they so fondly admired, had closed 
his pilgrimage on earth. 

It Avas the good fortune of Dr. Linn to enjoy the con- 
fidence and esteem of all parties, notwithstanding he was 
a member of the United States Senate during the most 
exciting sessions ever known in our political history. 
With attainments of a high order and intellect, gifted by 
nature with unusual endowments, and a heart pure and 
unsullied, he won the affection of all a'ssociated with him, 
and became an especial favorite of the people of this State, 
to whose interests he had devoted himself with untiring 
industry. His unremitting exertions to advance the inter- 
ests of the Great West, long ago caused the citizens of 
this State to regard him as their especial champion in the 
Halls of Congress, and to speak of him with feelings of 
the highest regard and enthusiasm. Twice had he been 
elected to the U. S. Senate with little or no opposition ; 
both his political friends and opponents recording their 
votes in liis favor with the greatest cheerfulness. No man 
in Missouri ever commanded more general and sincere 
respect, and none ever possessed a more wide-spread or 
deserved popularity. The j)lanters and the merchants, 
the frontier settlers and the emigrants to Oregon, found 
in him one who labored for their prosperity with an ambi- 
tion unalloyed by selfishness — with no ulterior or sinister 
objects to gratify, and with no other desire than to per- 
form his duty to his constituents faithfully, honestly and 
unostentatiously. His efibrts in behalf of Oregon will 
for ever identify his narne with our Pacific Territory. His 
was the labor of first urging on the National Government 
the importance of the occupation and settlement of that 
lovely region, and to him belongs the honor of arousing 



APPENDIX. 365 

the attention of the whole country to that great question 
It is to be deeply regretted that he was not spared to wit- 
ness, the triumph of that great measure, wliich he origi- 
nated, advocated, and urged forward with zeal, till the in- 
different became interested, the doubtful convinced, and 
the hostile prepared to abandon all opposition to it. But 
nothing can rob him of the honor which is so eminently his 
due — nothing can separate his name from the future glory 
of our Pacific Territory. The first city whose foundations 
shall be laid west of the Eocky Mountains by American 
citizens, Avill bear his name, and those emigrants to 
Oregon, now on their march across the Western prairies, 
will form the nucleus around which will soon be gathered 
a happy and thriving population, to attest hereafter the 
sagacity, forecast, and patriotism of the lamented Linn. 

To the citizens of Missouri and the whole nation, the 
death of Dr. Linn is a heavy calamity. No one in Mis- 
souri can fill the void thus created. His public life 
affords a model worthy of imitation ; his conduct as 
Senator an example to be followed by all who may succeed 
him. He was courteous, chivalric, brilliant and profound ; 
an uncompromising but conciliatory advocate of his politi- 
cal principles ; a debater of great power, but unostenta- 
tious in his manner ; a Statesman without vanity, a poli- 
tician without bitterness, a man, like the Chevalier Bayaixi, 
" sans peur, sans 7xproc1ie." 

The sadness visible on every countenance yesterday, 
when his death was announced in our city, and the low 
and mournful tones in which all spoke of the public loss 
sustained by liis sudden decease, proved the sincerity and 
depth of the affection universally felt for one so worthy 
and so pure. Most sincerely do we S}Tiipathize with her 
who has lost an idolized husband, and with those who have 
been deprived by this afilictive dispensation of Providence, 



366 APPENDIX. 

of an aflfectionate and honored parent. If it can afford 
any consolation to the bereaved family to know that others 
mourn with them in the hour of their grief, they have the 
best assurance which can be given, that every Missourian 
feels the deepest sorrow at the loss of one so distinguished 
and so loved. 



St. Louis, October 16th, 1843. 
To Mrs. L. F. Linn. 

Eespected Madam, — The people of St. Louis at the 
Court House of the County in public meeting assembled, 
made it my duty to forward to you a copy of its proceed- 
ings had expressive of their love and respect for the mem- 
ory of the Honorable Lewis F. Linn, their Senator, and 
your illustrious and excellent husband, and to signify to 
you. Madam, how deeply and how sincerely they sympa- 
thize with you in this your and their great bereavement. 

In attempting to execute the solemn duty I am so 
oppressed with a sense of my inability to do justice to the 
feelings of deep sorrow felt by the citizens of a city and 
a county whom he has served so long, so faithfully and so 
well, that I fear to increase that grief, so natural for you 
to feel, and which we so much respect, rather than to 
afford consolation to the wounded spirit of one whose deep 
sorrow and affliction has rendered her still more dear to 
the hearts of a susceptible and stricken people. 

Giving utterance to my profound veneration for the 
memory of the dead, and praying that Almighty God 
may graciously afford Divine Consolation to the living, I 
dare intrude no further upon the sanctity of your grief. 

Be pleased to accept herewith a copy of the proceed- 
ings of the people of the city and county of St. Louis, 
and be assured of the deep sympathies of each one of 



APPENDIX. 367 

the citizens composing that vast assemblage, and their 
profound respect for your sorrow. 

I have the honor to be your obedient and humble 
servant. 

Jno. M. Wimer. 



At an unusually numerous meeting of citizens of St. 
Louis, convened at the court house on Wednesday even- 
ing the 11th inst., for the purpose of testifying their 
respect for the memory of Hon. Lewis F. Linn, late one 
of the senators in the Congress of the United States from 
Missouri, and whose death took place on the 3d inst., 
on motion of Judge James B. Bowlin, Hon. John M. 
Wimer, mayor of the city, was called to the chair ; and 
N. Paschall was appointed secretary. 

The chairman then addressed the meeting to the fol- 
lowing effect : 

" We are convened here, fellow citizens, in conse- 
quence of the receipt of the mournful intelligence that 
the warm, the devoted and active friend of St. Louis, the 
Hon. Lewis F. Linn, one of our Senators, has been taken 
away by the hand of death. It is the greatest loss and 
the severest chastisement ever inflicted upon St. Louis. 
The blow was sudden and desolating — the more so, when 
we consider that our friend, virtue's ornament, was re- 
moved by Providence in the midst of life and in the full 
career of usefulness and honor. It becomes us as a peo- 
ple to meekly bow to the awful and inscmtablc dispensa- 
tion and humbly invoke Divine assistance to aid and suit- 
ably to demean ourselves in this our great affliction. 

The pomp of obsequies are of no advantage to the 



ii 



368 APPENDIX. 

dead, but they often afford consolation to the living. 
What tokens of respect for the deceased will be suitable 
for the occasion, and expressive of the deep emotions of 
regret felt by the citizens of St. Louis, it is the business 
of this meeting to consider." 

Lewis V. Bogy, Esq., then offered the following resolu- 
tion, which was unanimously adopted : 

"Resolved, That a committee of nine persons be 
appointed by the chair for the purpose of preparing and 
reporting a preamble, and resolutions appropriate to the 
occasion." 

Thereupon the chair appointed Messrs Bogy, Blair, 
Drake, Bowlin, Milburn, Geyer, Ayres, Dobyns and Ran- 
ney, said committee : The committee having retired Mr. 
Benton was called upon from all parts of the room, and 
in obedience to the call addressed the meeting : 

He said, that great as the grief of all present was, he had 
more to lament than any one. As a citizen of the State 
he felt in common with all other citizens the sorrow which 
oppressed their bosoms ; as a senator still having some 
time to serve, he felt the loss of a colleague from whom 
he always received the kindest, the most cordial, the most 
efficient aid ; as a friend he had to lament the loss of one 
of his earliest friends. He (Mr. B.) had arrived in Mis- 
souri above a quarter of a century ago, while the lamented 
deceased was still a youth at school ; and from the first 
moment of his arrival had found in him, and in all his 
connections, the most generous friendship, never inter- 
rupted for an instant, and which never glowed with more 
warmth than in the last interview, a few weeks before, 
when they spent the day together. The loss of such a 
colleague and of such a friend was to him the addition of 
a private to a public loss, and doubled the weight of the 
grief which he felt. 



APPENDIX. 369 

The worthy mayor, said Mr. B., -who presides on this 
melancholy occasion has opened the subject with just and 
appropriate remarks. The respectable committee which 
has been appointed, will report resolutions which will 
cov^er the merits of the deceased and attest our feeling ; and 
some one of the committee will doubtless be designated to 
illustrate with his observations the resolutions which shall 
be submitted. He would not trench upon his province ; but 
would confine himself to points, in the public life and charac- 
ter of his deceased friend and colleague, less generally known, 
but equally honorable to the man and the senator. He 
would speak of his generous kindness and amenity, which 
conciliated good will from all parties — which softened the 
acerbities of party — which composed many differences — 
and which flew to the sick bed of every member without 
regard to party, and joined the assiduities of nurse and 
friend to the profound skill of the accomplished physician. 
He would speak of his punctual attendance in his place, 
and his faithful discharge of every public duty. He 
would speak of his instant and ready attention to every 
call from his constituents, whether opponents (for he had 
no foes) or supporters. He would speak of his success in 
carrying great measures, which would not have been car- 
ried by any one save himself. There was a charm in the 
goodness of his heart, the gentleness of his manner and 
the amiability of his temper, which gave power to talents 
and enabled him to do for his State, what none but him- 
self could have done. 

He (Mr. B.) was not using the language of eulogy 
but speaking the words of truth, and saying that which 
should pass into history. Perhaps the most important 
measure ever carried in Congress for the benefit of Mis- 
souri was the acquisition of that superb territory known 
as the Platte country ; the lamented Linn was the author 
24 



370 APPENDIX. 

of that measure ! — True, he was supported by his col- 
leagues, but they could not have carried it. His colleague 
in the Senate older than himself, and who addresses you, 
could not have carried it. It required not only sagacity, 
and tact, and discretion to carry that great and delicate 
measure, but it required also the sweetness of temper, 
which wins hearts, and which our deceased friend so emi- 
nently possessed. As an historical truth which should 
be known now and for ever to every Missourian, this state- 
ment is now made on this solemn occasion, to this large 
and respectable assembly, that the knowledge of it may 
be spread as wide, and last as long as the acquisition of 
the Platte has been auspicious and glorious for the State. 
(Great applause followed the dehvery of this statement.) 

The old inhabitants of this country — those who viewed 
all the new emigrants with such kindness on the change 
of government, and whose grants of land from Spain 
and France had in so many instances suffered from want 
of confirmation, — those old inhabitants, and all claiming 
under them, owe a debt of gratitude to the illustrious 
deceased, for to him is owing the passage of the last act 
of Congress, which has done so much towards the final 
and equitable acknowledgment of these long delayed 
grants. 

This is not the time, said Mr. B., to enumerate the 
services of the deceased ; another occasion will present 
itself for that act of justice. To mourn the loss of a 
statesman, a patriot, a friend, a good man — to weep for 
him, rather than to speak of his public acts — is now the 
feelings of every one. But how can we omit the last 
great act, as yet unfinished, in which his whole soul was 
engaged at the time of his death .? — The Bill for the set- 
tlement and occupation of Oregon, was his, and he car- 
ried it through the Senate, when his colleague, who now 



APPENDIX. 371 

addresses you, coiild not have done- it. This is another 
historical truth, fit to be made known, on this occasion, 
and which is now declared to this large and respectable 
assemblage, under all circumstances which impart solem- 
nity to the declaration. (Great applause). He carried 
that biR through the Senate, and it was the measure of a 
statesman. Just to the settler, it was wise to the govern- 
ment. The settler has a right to have a home in the new 
country, which he reclaims from the wilderness and the 
savage ; the government of the United States can only 
save its domain on the Oregon by planting its citizens 
there. Land is the inducement and the reward to emi- 
gration, and that land was granted by the bill — liberally 
granted to the wife, and the children, to the young man 
and the widow, as well as the husband and the father. 
That bill is the vindication and the assertion of the 
American title against the daring designs of England, 
and it was the only way to save the country. It was car- 
ried through the Senate at the last session, and its 
author was preparing to carry it again. Called this sum- 
mer to the Atlantic States on private business he availed 
himself of all opportunities to collect fresh materials for 
the support of his darling measure. The last day that 
he spent in this town, only three weeks ago, on his return 
from the East, he spoke of these materials — of the daring 
pretensions of England, and of his determination to push 
the measure which was to save his country's rights with 
renewed vigor at the ensuing session. Alas that he 
should not have been spared to put the finishing hand to 
a measure which was to reward the emigrant, to protect 
his country, to curb England, and to connect his own name 
with the foundation of an empire. But it is done ! the 
unfinished work will go on ! it will be completed and the 
name of Linn will not be forgotten ; that name will live 



372 APPENDIX. 

vand be connected with Oregon, Avhile'its banks bear a 
plant or its waters roll a wave. 

A great man of the early days of tbe French Eevolu- 
tion died while he had a great measure depending : it 
was Mirabean, who was surprised by death while his bill 
for the division of estates- was stiU depending before the 
Legislative Assembly. The terrors of death could not 
stifle liis regard for his bill. He made a bequest of it to 
a friend. He willed the unfinished work to the celebrated 
Talleyrand ; and this Deputy read to the assembly the 
speech prepared for the occasion by the great orator, and 
carried the measure. If inexorable fate had allowed a 
few minutes to our departed friend, he would doubtless 
have done the same. Death had no terrors for him, and 
a moment would have snatched from the agonizing cares 
of friends and family to have commended and committed 
the crowning measure of his life to the faithful hands of a 
successor. He had not that time — not a moment to 
think, nor to speak ! — And now the whole representation 
from Missouri — the whole delegation from the Great 
West — must constitute themselves his political legatees 
— take his great measure to themselves and carry it 
through. 

Mr. B. would still confine himself to points, not so 
generally known, and among these was the great devel- 
opement of mind which their lamented friend was under- 
going at the time of his death. Of the nine years he had 
served in the Senate, the last two or three Avere fullest of 
improvement to himself and benefit to his country. His 
faculties were maturing every day, and his delivery be- 
coming truly beautiful. Bred to a profession which did 
not admit of public displays he required practice to per- 
fect and develop his powers ; and practice was doing its 
part in perfecting genius. A natural gift for speaking 



APPENDIX. 373 

was improrecl into eloquence ; a mind originally good was 
enriched with the acquisitions of study and observation. 
Thus improved, he spoke without effort, and seemingly 
without a consciousness of the power and beauty of his 
own discourse. The Senate listened to him with aston- 
ishment and admiration, and some have been heard to 
exclaim, the man is inspired. A few years more would 
have doubled his powers. That such a man should have 
perished in the meridian of his days, and so suddenly and 
unexpectedly, is for ever to be deplored. He laid down to 
sleep a few moments, and awoke no more. It was the 
sleep of death — sleep converted into death — eternal sleep. 

On an other occasion Mr. B. said it would be his pri- 
vilege to speak more deliberately of the merits of the de- 
ceased, at present he only fullowcd the impulsions of the 
heart in giving vent to feelings of sorrow and affection, 
which found a response in all bosoms, and which so many 
had met this night to manifest. 

Mr. Bogy, from the committee for that purpose, re- 
ported the following preamble and resolutions for the 
action of the meeting. 

Whereas, the safety and prosperity of our country 
mainly depend on the virtue and ability of tlic statesmen 
and representatives to whom the duties of government, 
and the making of laws, are delegated by the people ; 
and whereas, when Providence has removed from amongst 
us, to another and a better world, a representative of 
eminent merit, it becomes our duty to declare in a pub- 
lic and solemn manner, our respect for his memory, and 
our sense, with all submission to the Divine Will, of the 
loss sustained ; and whereas an occasion has presented 
itself of so testifying our sentiments on the sudden death 
of the Hon. Lewis F. Liim. It is therefore, 

Besolved, That we have received the sad tidinijs of 



374 APPENDIX. 

the recent sudden decease of the Hon. Lewis F. Linn, one 
of the Senators from this State in the CoDgress of the 
United States, with feelings of profound regret, and de- 
plore the event, as a public misfortune. 

Resolved, That the conduct and deportment of Lewis 
F. Linn during his too brief existence, was distinguished 
in private and professional life, as in high public station, 
by a rare combination of qualities, commanding our re- 
spect, while they won our affections, and that our lamented 
Senator has given to those who shall succeed him in the 
councils of the nation, a salutary and bright example. 

Resolved, That in his senatorial action, on the rela- 
tions and interests of these United States and Territories — 
in their whole vast expanse, from the Lake of the Woods 
to Cape Sable, and from the shores of the Pacific Ocean 
to the boundary hne of Maine and New Brunswick, — we 
acknowledge and appreciate the wisdom, energy, and high 
sense of national right and honor, exibited by Lewis F. 
Linn. 

Resolved, That the efforts of Lewis F. Linn to obtain 
justice for that portion of our population, whose rights of 
property were especially guaranteed to them by the treaty 
of cession of the 30th April, 1803, alone entitle his 
memory to the respect of every American citizen who can 
appreciate the value to the individual, or to the mass of 
national good faith and honor. 

Resolved, That we respectfully tender to the bereaved 
and afflicted family of our deceased Senator the assurance 
of our sympathies ; and that a copy of the proceedings 
of this meeting be forwarded to his widow by the chair- 
man with an appropriate letter. 

The report having been adopted by the meeting, Grcn. 
Kanney offered a resolution which was afterwards modi- 
fied to read as follows : 



APPENDIX. 375 

Resolved, That a committee of three persons be ap- 
pointed by the chairman, whose duty it shall be to select 
some person to deliver an appropriate address on the occa- 
sion of the death of Senator Linn, and to appoint a time 
and place for its delivery. 

The Chair appointed Messrs. Ranney, Hudson and 
Blannerhasset, to act as this committee. 

Judge Lawless, Lewis V. Bogy, Esq. and T. H, Holt 
Esq., then in succession addressed the meeting in eloquent 
and happily conceived speeches. 

On motion of Dr. Hardage Lane, it was. 

Resolved, That the several jiapers in this city and 
State be requested to publish the ]>roceedings of this 
meeting. 

The meeting then adjourned. 

John M. Wimer, Chairman. 

N, Paschall, Secretai'ij. 



St. Louis, October, 7th, 1843. 

At a meeting of the Medical Society of Missouri held 
last evening, the death of the Honorable Lewis F. Linn 
having been announced, the following preamble and reso- 
lutions were unanimously adopted. 

Whereas, it has pleased an all wise Providence to 
remove from this life of usefulness by a sudden, and un- 
looked for death, one of the most estimable of our profes- 
sional brethren, we the officers and members of the 
Medical Society of Missouri, deploring in conmion with the 
entire commimity the loss sustained, take this method of 
expressing our unfeigned sorrow for the event. 

Therefore, Resolved, That in the death of Dr. Lewis 
F. Linn, a distinguished member of our body, we are 



376 APPENDIX. 

called upon to mourn the loss of one, who for the many 
ennobhug qualities of his heart and understanding, for liis 
high intellectual endowments, and distinguished profes- 
sional attainments, for his learning, his genius, and his 
eloquence, must ever be remembered by all who reverence 
the lofty attainments displayed in the stations he adorned. 

Resolved, That this Society sincerely deplore this 
melancholy dispensation which has deprived our profession 
of one of its ornaments, and truly sympathize with his 
distressed family in the loss they have sustained. 

Besolved, That as a mark of respect to the deceased 
the members of this Society wear the usual badge of 
mourning, for tliirty days. 

Besolved, That a copy of these resolutions be signed 
by the officers of this Society, and transmitted to the 
family of the deceased, and published in the newspapers 
of the city. 

Hard AGE Lane, President 

Wm. M. McPheeters, Eec. Secretary. 



MEETING AT ST. GENEVIEVE. 

At a large and respectable meeting of the citizens of 
the town and county of Saint Genevieve in the State of 
Missouri, held pursuant to notice, at the Court House in 
the town of Saint Genevieve, on Wednesday, the 4th day 
of October, A. D. 1843, for the purpose of paying a suit- 
able tribute of respect to the memory of the late Honor- 
able Lewis F. Linn, deceased : 

On motion Ferdinand Eozier, Esq., and the Hon. Cle- 
ment Detchemendy, were called to the chair, and John N. 
Littlejohn was chosen Secretary, and on a further motion, 
the Chair appointed the following gentlemen a com- 



APPENDIX. 377 

mittee to draft and present to the meeting a preamble 
and resolutions, expressive of the sense of the meeting, 
ancV ^">r)ropriate to the occasion, to "svit, Messrs. Augte. 
St. uci^ % Esq., Doctor J. Sargeant, Doctor B. Shaw, 
General J. D. Grafton, William Adams, Esq., Felix Valle, 
Esq., and Adolph Razier, Esq., who, after having retired 
for a short time, reported the following preamble and 
resolutions by their Chairman, to wit : 

Whereas it has pleased Almighty God, in the ways 
of His inscrutable Providence, to remove from us in a 
sudden manner, by the hand of death, our distinguished 
and. respected townsman and fellow citizen, the Honor- 
able Lewis F. Linn, a member of the Senate of the 
United States, and whereas, we deem it not only our 
duty, but our melancholy privnlege to be among the first 
to express, in a public manner, our sense of the loss which 
is thus sustained, by oui-selves, our State and our common 
country, therefore : 

1. Resolved, That in the sudden demise of the Hon- 
orable Lewis F. Linn, we feel the event as a great 
affliction, not only to his family, but extending to us his 
neighbors and personal friends, to the State of Missouri, 
and to the elevated body of which he was a member in 
the Counsels of the General Government. 

2. llesolved, That while as neighbors and citizens we 
thus deplore the event we have met to reflect and act 
upon, our sympathy is in a most peculiar manner directed 
to the bereaved family of our deceased friend, to whom 
the loss they have sustained, in the husband and the 
father, is irreparable. 

3. Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings be 
signed by the Chairman and Secretary, and forwarded to 
some one of the editors of newspapers in the city of St. 



378 APPENDIX. 

Louis for publication, with a request that the same may 
be also inserted in all the newspapers in this State. 

4. Besolved, That a copy of tliese proceedings be 
furnished to the widow and family of the deceased. 

All of which was unanimously adopted, — and on 
motion the meeting adjourned. 

Ferdinand Kozier, 
Clement Detchemendy, 

Chairman. 
John N. Littlejohn, Secretary. 



At a meeting of the Citizens of Potosi and its vicinity, 
convened at the Presbyterian Church on Saturday the 
14th instant, for the purpose of testifying their respect 
for the memory of the Hon. Lewis F. Linn, whose death 
took i^lace on the 3d instant : On motion of W. C. Read, 
Esq., General Augustus Jones was called to the Chair, 
and Dr. James H. McGready appointed Secretary. The 
Chairman then explained the object of the meeting in 
quite an appropriate manner. Mr. W, C. Read, being 
called on, addressed the meeting, and in conclusion moved 
that a committee of seven be appointed by the Chair for 
the purpose of drafting a preamble and resolutions expres- 
sive of the sense of the meeting, whereupon the following 
gentlemen were appointed, W C. Read, Rev. Mr. Thomas, 
Rev. Mr. Cowan, John Scott, Col. P. P. Brickey, John 
Brickey, Esq., and Valentine Haifner, who after a short 
deliberation made the following report. 

Whereas the melancholy intelligence of the death of 
our Senator, the Hon. Lewis F. Linn, having reached us, 
and whereas although we should freely and wiUingly sub- 
mit to the dispensations of Providence which are always 



APPENDIX. 379 

conceived in wisdom and goodness, yet wlien we see death 
with all its terrors and fearful forebodings laying waste 
and cutting down in his prime and usefulness, a public 
servant, who on all occasions served his fellow-citizens 
faithfully, and in whom the pride of the community 
seemed to be concentrated, thereby producing a public 
calamity which seemed universally to be felt throughout 
the land, it is but human nature, it is a principle im- 
planted in the human breast to feel a disposition to assem- 
ble in congregated masses in peace and friendship, for the 
purpose of mingling in sentiments of respect for him, and 
to express a regret for the lamentable occurrence, when he 
has in obedience to the call of his Maker bid a final adieu 
to things on earth and left his friends to lament his 
departure. Therefore be it 

Resolved, Tliat in the death of our Senator, the Hon. 
Lewis F. Linn, Missouri has lost one of her brightest 
sons, one of her most faithful representatives, and one of 
her best citizens. 

Resolved, That in Dr. Linn we find combined the able 
and skilful physician, together with a kindness of heart 
which always manifested the keenest pain at the distress 
and suffering of his fellow-citizens in their hour of illness. 

Resolved, That in tlie death of our friend we have 
been deprived of one of the rarest specimens of virtue, 
charity, and goodness of heart, which adorns the human 
character. 

Resolved, That in his constitution we find the patriot, 
the philanthropist, and the accomphshed and sagacious 
Statesman. 

Resolved, That while he was firm and unswerving in 
his principles, yet he was land and courteous to liis oppo- 
nents. 

Resolved, That at the next session of Congress, while 



380 APPENDIX. 

there will be a dark gloom cast over the Senate Chamber 
at the announcement of his death, there will be a vacuum 
produced which will be hard to fill. 

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with his bereaved 
family, in the irreparable loss which they have sustained 
in a kind and affectionate husband and father. 

Besolved, That the Secretary of the meeting be directed 
to transmit a copy of the proceedings of this meeting to 
the widow of our deceased friend. 

Besolved, That the Secretary also be requested to send 
a copy to his brother, Gov. Dodge, of Wisconsin Territory. 

Resolved, That the President and Secretary sign the 
proceedings of this meeting. 

Resolved, That the St. Louis papers be requested to 
publish the proceedings of the meeting. 

The Kev. Mr. Cowan then addressed the meeting in a 
brief manner. On motion the meeting adjourned. 

A. Jones, President. 
J. H. McGrREADY, Secretary. 



At a large and respectable meeting of the citizens of 
Madison County, held at the Court House in Frederick- 
town, Mo., on the 20tli of Oct., 1843, for the purpose of 
showing the respect due to the memory of our beloved 
friend and U. S. Senator, Dr. Le-^ds F. Linn, S. A. 
Guignon, Esq., was called to the chair and S. D. Caruthers 
was appointed Secretary, The object of the meeting 
being made known, by a few appropriate remarks, on mo- 
tion of Eobt. H. Lane, Esq., a committee of ten was ap- 
pointed to draft a preamble and resolutions, expressive of 
the regard which we entertain for the memory of the late 
Hon. Lewis F. Linn : whereuijon, the chair appointed 



APPENDIX. 381 

the following gentlemen to compose said committee : 
Messrs. E. H. Lane, T. F. Tong, J. D. Villars, E. F. 
Pratte, Caleb Cox, D. L. Canithers, J. P. Davis, Chas. 
Gregoire, Paul Deguire, and Jas. McFadden. During 
the absence of the committee, the Hon. John D. Cook 
was called upon to address the meeting, which he did, in 
a clear and able manner, making it appear obvious, to 
every one present, that in the death of Dr. Linn, Mis- 
souri, and particularly Southern Missouri, has sustained 
an irrejjarable loss. The committee returned, after a few 
minutes' absence, and through the chairman, R. H. Lane, 
Esq., reported the following preamble and resolutions : 

Whereas the soaring mind of Addison compares the 
life and exit of a great and good man to the sun, which, 
on its first appearance gives light and animation to the 
earth ; and, when it makes its final exit, leaves the con- 
templative powers of man to meditate upon its departed 
glory, we deem it no misconstruction of the simile in ap- 
plying tliis comparison to the Hon. Lewis F. Linn, late U. 
S. Senator, whose memory, we are, at this time, called upon 
to lament. His pathway through life was illuminated 
by the light of genius ; and the pure fire of patriotism 
that glowed in his heart, gave heat and animation to all 
of his acts for the amelioration of his country : therefore, 
be it 

Resolved, 1. That we deem the death of the Hon. 
Lewis F. Linn, Senator from Missouri in the Congress of 
the United States, as a public calamity. 

2. That in his brdliant career we behold the enlight- 
ened statesman, the pure patriot, and the virtuous citizen. 

3. That in his oft-repeated call for the occupation of 
the Oregon Territory, we recognize the presentation of 
means for the accomplishment of a glorious end. 

4. That on this occasion we tender our condolence to 



382 APPENDIX. 

his bereaved family ; and that we submissively bow to the 
afflicting dispensation of ProvidencOj that bereft us of 
him. 

5. That a transcript of the proceedings of this meet- 
ing, signed by the chairman and secretary, be presented to 
his family. 

6. That a copy of these proceedings be sent to Gen. 
Henry Dodge, half-brother of our deceased friend. 

7. That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by 
the chairman and secretary, and jmblished in the South- 
ern Advocate, and all other pa23ers in this State friendly 
to Dr. Linn. 

The foregoing preamble and resolutions were read, and 
unanimously adopted. After which, a call was made upon 
Gen. Augustus Jones to deliver an address : to which he 
responded in the most feeling and pathetic manner. Dur- 
ing his remarks, he reverted back to the scenes of their 
boyhood : — reminding the enraptured audience of many 
incidents that occurred during the infantile days of Dr. 
Linn, which proved beyond a doubt, that he possessed a 
truly magnanimous soul. He traced him through his 
long and illustrious career, and told of many of his bene- 
volent acts towards the sick, the wounded, the poor and 
needy, that would have confirmed in the minds of the 
most incredulous, that Dr. Linn was well entitled to the 
appellation of GEEAT. 

S. C. GuiGNON, Chairman. 
S. D. Carutheks, Secretary. 



Fkedericktown, 1M October, 1840. 

Madam, — In accordance with the wish of the meetins: 
held on the 20th inst. at this place, in honor and respect 



APPENDIX. 383 

to the memory of your departed husband and our friend, 
one and all : I herewith enclose you a copy of the pro- 
ceedings of the meeting ; please, madam, accept it in the 
spirit in which it is tendered, for really it is of friends 
met to mourn and to deplore the loss of a friend. We 
are perfectly aware that no one can replace him with you, 
and are also satisfied that no one will or can replace him 
in the affection of the people of this State, nor can they 
have a more faithful friend in the U. S. Senate. 

I individually join in the public feeling expressed 
towards your dear husband, and am sorry that we have 
been called to meet on so solemn an occasion ; but, 
madam, I trust he has gone to receive the reward due 
his virtues, and to a world where there is no mourning-. 
Please accept my sincere feehng of sorrow on this occasion, 
and beHeve me your friend, 

S. C. GUIGNON. 



At a promiscuous meeting of the citizens of Boonville, 
Cooper County, Missouri, convened at the Court House, 
on Wednesday evening the 18th of October, 1843, upon 
the reception of authenticated intelligence of the death 
of the Hon. Lewis F. Linn, late Senator of Missouri, in 
the Congress of the United States. Gen. Wm. Shields 
was called to the chair, and Col. James Quarles aj)pointed 
secretary. The object of the meeting having been briefly 
and appropriately stated by the chairman. 

On motion of H. W. Crowther, Esq., a committee of 
twelve were appointed by the chair, to draft a preamble 
and resolutions expressive of the sentiments and feehngs 
of this community. To wit, H. W. Crowther, Tlios. J. 
Boggs, D. Spahr, B. Tompkins, J. D. Blair, B. G. WH- 



384 APPENDIX. 

son, B. W. Sharp, Clias. Cope, B. Emmons Ferry, E. P 
Bowman, C. H. Smith, and Jt^lm Andrews. 

The committee retired, and after a short interval re- 
turned, and reported by Gen. B, Emmons Ferry, the fol- 
lowing preamble and resolutions, w^hich were unanimously 
adopted. To wit : 

It having pleased Divine Providence to remove from 
the scene of his labors and usefulness, the Hon. Lewis F. 
Linn, one of the Senators of the United States, from the 
State of Missouri ; the citizens of Boonville and vicinity, 
entertaining a just regard for his private virtues, and dis- 
tinguished public services, and penetrated with a profound 
sense of the loss which our country has sustained in the 
death of one her most able and patriotic men, unite cor- 
dially with theu' fellow-citizens throughout the State, 
in paying a well-earned tribute to his memory. 

Therefore, he it Besolved hy tlie meeting, That, in 
the death of Dr. Linn, the medical profession, which he 
adorned by singular and unsurpassed benevolence, has 
been deprived of one of its most accomplished members, 
and society has to deplore the loss of one whose manly 
character, relieved by the most winning gentleness and 
courtesy, commanded its highest respect, and made him 
the grace and charm of the social circle. 

Resolved, That in his pobtical conduct, Dr. Linn was 
manly, consistent and sincere, qualities, which, while they 
entitle him to the confidence and gratitude of his party, 
win also for him the respect and esteem of his opponents. 

Resolved, That the able, persevering, and successful 
exertions of Dr. Linn upon the Oregon question, have 
obtained for him a distinguished rank among American 
statesmen, while from the magnitude and wide-reach- 
ing influences of the interests involved in the question, 
they give him a just claim to the grateful remembrance 



APPENDIX. 385 

of the nation, and entitle bim to the lasting gratitude of 
the people of the future Kepublic of the Far West. 

Eesolved, That, as citizens of Missouri, we are under 
a lasting debt of gratitude for the able and efficient ser- 
vices of Dr. Linn in the national councils, by which 
mainly the cession of the Platte country to the State was 
achieved. 

Resolved, That to the family and relatives of the 
lamented Linn, we offer our most unfeigned condolence 
for this sad and sudden bereavement of their household. 

Resolved, That these proceedings be signed by the 
chairman and secretary of the meeting, and that a copy 
of the same be transmitted to the family of our late dis- 
tinguished Senator, and also that the secretary be directed 
to furnish a copy to the editors of the Missouri Register 
and Boonsville Observer, for publication, and that the 
other papers in the State be requested to publish the 
same. 

On motion the meeting adjourned. 

Wm. Shields, Chairman. 

James Quarles, Secretary. 



LETTERS OF COXDOLEXCE. 

FROM general JACKSON. 

Hermitage. October IQth, 1S43. 
My DEAR Friend, — I have just received the Missouri 
Reporter, which contains the mournful details of your dear 
husband's, and my revered and very dear friend's death. 
With a heart filled with the deepest sorrow, I afiectionately 
tender you my condolence on this great bereavement. His 
25 



886 APPENDIX. 

loss to you and your dear children is irreparable, and to 
bis country, is so great, in tbe council of our nation and 
society, tbat it cannot be filled. But, my dear friend, we 
are charged by our blessed Saviour, to mourn, not for the 
dead, but for the living ; " the Lord giveth and the Lord 
taketh away, and blessed be the name of the Lord : " he 
doeth all things well, although we, poor frail mortals, 
cannot refrain from grief on such afilicting occasions. He 
was my dearest and most disinterested friend, and as long 
as I live I will lament his untimely death, with a heart 
full of gratitude and love for his sincere and warm friend- 
ship for me ; and I pray to the Lord to give you and your 
children strength to bear this awful affliction. But peace be 
to his name. He cannot return to us, my dear friend, but 
let us prepare to meet him in a happy immortality, where 
the wicked cease to trouble and the weary are at rest. 
My afflictions and debility admonish me that I shall 
follow my dear friend very soon, and in the Lord's good 
time, I hope, my poor sorrowing friend, that you and 
yours may join us in a better world. 

My dear daughter sends you her sympathizing love ; 
she desires me to tell you that she would write to you, 
but she is in great affliction herself, having just buried a 
dear interesting babe. All my household unite with me 
in sincere and tender condolence to you, on this greatest 
bereavement that you could receive. Do write soon, for 
you know that, as long as I live, I will feel the deepest 
interest for you and your children, and when your mind 
becomes composed from the awful shock of your great 
affliction, I would be very happy if you would come and 
see us, and bring your children with you. The Lord bless 
you and them. 

Your affectionate friend, 

Andrew Jackson. 

To Elizabeth A. R. Linn, St. Granevieve. 



APPENDIX. 387 

FROM MR. BUCHANAN. 

Lancaster, October 14#A, 1843. 
My dear Friend, — Last evening's mail brought me the 
Missouri Reporter, containing the mournful intelligence 
of your dear husband's death. I can scarcely, yet recover 
from the dreadful shock ; so suddenly, so unexpectedly 
have I been deprived of a very dear friend, who held as high 
a place in my warmest affections as any other living man, 
that I can yet scarcely realize the awful truth. He was 
indeed every thing which constitutes a man, mild and 
amiable, with great benevolence of heart ; he was the very 
soul of chivalry and honor, possessing uncommon talents, 
and extensive information ; he was one of the ablest and 
most useful members of the Senate, and yet he was so 
unconscious of his own great power, his loss to his personal 
and political friends in that body is irreparable. No man 
in our country can supply his place. He was the '•ock 
against whose firmness the storms might beat and beat 
in vain, and he was ever as prompt and as decided in sus- 
taining his friends in the hour of need, as in defendinjr 
himself ; and yet in him the elements were so combined, 
that his political opponents were his warm personal friends, 
and far beyond all question, he was the most popular man 
amongst liis fellow members in the Senate of the United 
States. But why need I enlarge upon his merits and his 
great virtues with melancholy pleasure to the partner of 
his bosom, who enjoyed his most devoted affection, and 
who was worthy of it all. It is to express my deep, my 
heartfelt sympathy for her irreparable loss. I know from 
her great strength of character and Christian principles, 
that she will not suffer her mourning for the dead to in- 
terfere with her duty to the living, neither will she mourn as 
one without hope. I know that he possessed true religious 
feelings, and we can cherish tlie belief that lie is now 



388 APPENDIX. 

with liis Recleeiner, wbicli, after all the toil and strife of 
this troublesome world, is at last the one thing needful. 
She wUl live for the instruction and benefit of the pledges 
of their mutual affection, and if Providence should ever 
place it in my j)ower to extend a helping hand to her or 
them, I shall esteem it a heartfelt pleasure, as well as a 
sacred duty to embrace the opportunity. 

I hope to hear from you very soon, and if it is not too 
great a tax on your feelings, write me something about 
my dear friend's last days on earth. 

With sentiments of the purest respect and highest 
esteem, i remain your most sincere and sympathizing 
friend, 

James Buchanan. 

To Mrs. Elizabeth A. R. Linn, St. G-enevieve. 



FROM THE HON. SILAS WRIGHT. 

Washington City, Senate Chamber, June Hh, 1843. 
My dear Mrs. Linn, — My good w^ife unites with me in 
offering you our heartfelt thanks for your kindness in com- 
plying with our request, to give us some account of the 
last days that your sainted husband passed on earth ; you 
do not know, my good lady, how much of life and feeling 
that you throw in your composition, and on such an occa- 
sion as that we have called from you the ivliole picture of 
affectionate domestic life, of sensible, refined feeling, 
tender honor, and pure integrity, and how suddenly and 
awfully was the wdiole enveloped in the sable mantle of 
death and overwhelming grief We think that we see and 
feel it all, and cannot speak of it or write about it without 
bringing on ourselves the overpowering affliction, which 
belongs to Ms last day on earth, and I feel incapable of 
writing to you on the subject as I should do. On our 



APPENDIX. 389 

assembling here this session of Congress, Mr. Buchanan 
and myself found the name of a stranger upon Dr. Linn's 
seat ; we both felt alike, that we could not have that seat 
so occupied, and I went to the Senator, Mr. Miller of 
New Jersey, and he cheerfully exchanged with me, ( you 
remember, the Doctor's seat was between Mr. Buchanan's 
and mine ?) taking my seat and giving me the Doctor's, 
which I have occupied this session ; and never do I sit 
down in the chair or open the draw of the desk, that the 
memory of my friend is not fresh in my mind, and his 
image before me as I write every line ; it appears to me 
tliat I certainly can see him by raising my eyes from the 
paper, and so far from feeling any of that awe which such 
imi)ressions have usually made when strongly pressed 
upon me, my imagination paints nothing but the intense 
desire to see that winning smile, meet those soft black 
eyes, and hear that sweet voice, which for ten years met 
me in this cliamber, and contributed so much to my hap- 
piness. This has been a most disastrous session of Con- 
gress to me, and I cannot express to you how much I* 
have missed my friend ; yet you can and will understand 
better than any other person, how much I feel his loss, 
because you know how much our tastes, habits of thouo-ht 
and manner of business were alike. We both had dear 
and valued friends in the Senate, but not such friends 
as possessed the intimacy and warmth of feeling which 
existed between the Doctor and myself Many would con- 
sider tlie affection that bound us so strongly together as 
childish, but we knew that it constituted the richest 
source of happiness, for the heartiness of it extended 
above and far beyond politics or party feeling, and ce- 
mented our friendship with the most profound feelings in 
human nature. To be deprived of my friend at such a 



890 APPENDIX. 

time, when I was heavily taxing all my humble ability to 
sustain, with other friends, Mr. Van Buren, was a fearful 
blow to me ; you, who know my sincere attachment to Mr, 
B., can well imagine my great disappointment at his not 
being sustained by the Baltimore Convention, I have 
watched, with great pleasure, the course taken by your 
admirable brother. Dr. Kelfe, and the two Gen. Dodges, 
in the midst of dark intrigue, fraud and corruption ; the 
noble relations of my friend and yourself, stood firm in 
their principles, fearless of all consequences to themselves, 
and maintained with unwearied efforts, their noble zeal in 
the cause of Democracy. How often, in reflecting on their 
admirable course of conduct, I have felt how proud my 
friend would have been to behold it. And_ will not you, 
my poor afflicted friend, take pleasure in hearing of the 
noble patriotic conduct of relations that are so dear to you ? 
and I know that you will take a mournful satisfaction, on 
learning how fully his country appreciated the true great- 
ness of your husband's character. When the Democratic 
Convention discovered that it was not possible to nomi- 
nate Mr. Van Buren for the Presidency, there was a unan- 
imous expression throughout that body, that, were the 
lamented Linn now alive, they would not hesitate to 
nominate him for the Presidency ; for, without the least 
doubt, he was the most popular man in the Democratic 
party. His fine talents, the noble and energetic course 
that he had taken on the Oregon question, with the de- 
voted friendship of Gen. Jackson, would surely carry him 
in triumph into the Presidential Chair, — But an all-wise 
Providence has removed him to a better world, and al- 
though we must ever mourn his loss, we should struggle 
not to murmur at the will of God, Mrs. Wright's health 
is better than usual , she sends you and your children 



APPENDIX. 391 

many affectionate regards. When I reach my quiet home, 
I will write to you one of my long old-fashioned letters.. 

Your sincerely sympathizing friend, 

Silas Wright. 

To Mrs. E. A. R. Linn, St. Genevieve. 



FROM THE HON, RICHARD M. JOHNSON. 

WmiE Sulphur, Scott County, Ky. 

December 2bth, 1843. 
Mrs. Linn, 

My dear friend, — Having just returned home in good 
health, after an absence of ninety-one days, I cannot omit 
even now, the attemjit of expressing the overwhelming 
sorrow which I feci on the sudden death of my friend and 
your loved companion. Dr. Lewis F, Linn, If such a 
loss can he so deeply felt and acknowledged by his coun- 
try and those who enjoyed his friendship, how much more 
afflicting must he the sorrow of one who knew liim as her 
hosom friend. Words are not here necessary to convince 
you how sincerely I regret your great bereavement, and 
most truly do I condole with you in your sorrow. I shall 
ever remember with a grateful heart, his friendship blended 
with yours, to me, and hold myself ever ready when in 
my power to serve you. Except yourself and ftimily, no 
one has met with a greater loss than myself, as 1 felt for 
him the affection of a brother, I should do injustice to 
the subject and my own feehngs, to say less. 

Wisliing you every blessing that life can bestow, I am 
most respectfidly your friend, 

Richard M. Johnson, 



FROM MR. CLAY. 

St. Louis, April 17th, 1846. 
My dear Madam, — In the expectation of leaving this 



392 APPENDIX. 

city in a few hours for Kentucky, I called to see you this 
morning to bid you farewell, and was very mucli disap- 
pointed in not finding you at home, as I desired to again 
express to you my high satisfaction in meeting you here, 
and renewing the agreeable intercourse which I enjoyed in 
your society in Washington city, and I also wished once 
more, to assure you of my deep sympathy and condolence 
on account of your great bereavement. I am thankful 
that Providence tempers your heavy affliction witli cir- 
cumstances of consolation in your joromising children. 
From what I have heard of your son, I hope that he will 
maintain and add to the reputation of his father, who 
was a bright ornament to the highest council in our coun- 
try, while his exalted benevolence made him a benefactor 
to the afflicted, and his warm social qualities imparted a 
charm to society, which was more deeply felt than could 
be expressed. 

Wishing you health, happiness, and lengthened days* 
I am, dear madam, your sincere friend, 

H. Clay. 



FROM MARTIN VAN BUREN, EX-PRESIDENT U. S. 

LiNDENWALD, Nov. \Mh, 1843. 

Many and sincere thanks to you, my dear afflicted 
friend, for your kind message and the accompanying 
paper, containing a brief sketch of the last moments of 
our departed and much valued friend. Be assured, that 
the whole country sympathizes with you deeply and sin- 
cerely, in the great loss which both have sustained. The 
fame which your lamented husband had already acquired, 
was sufficient to satisfy the wishes of his friends, and did 
honor to his State and country ; but it still fell far short 
of that to which he would have risen, could his valuable 



APPENDIX. 393 

life have been spared a few years to you. There is not in 
my judgment, a pubhc man in the country, whose im- 
provement was more rapid, or whose future prospects were 
brighter. But Pro^'idence has decided otherwise, and it 
is our duty to submit to His decrees without murmuring. 
That this, difficult as it is, will by you be performed to 
the uttermost of human power, no one as conversant Avith 
the strength of your mind, and the elevation of your prin- 
ciples as I am, will for a moment doubt. 

I shall ever remember with melancholy satisfaction, 
the short visit it was my good fortune to receive from him, 
last summer, and which he promised soon to repeat. 

Remember me most affectionatelj^ to your bereaved 
chiklrcn, and be assured, that you and they, will always 
find a sincere friend, in your obedient servant and friend, 

M. Van Buren. 
To Mrs. E. A. R. Linu. 



FROM HON. C. G. ATHERTON. 

Nashua, N. H., October ISth, 1843. 
My DEAR Mrs. Linn, — Mrs. Athertonand myself have 
been inexpressibly shocked at seeing in a Boston paper of 
to-day, intelligence of the death of Dr. Linn. From the 
effect this event has produced on us, who had the pleasure 
of counting ourselves among the number of liis friends, we 
can appreciate in a remote degree, the terrible severity with 
which it must have fallen on the Avife of his bosom, and on 
the children of his love. We will not attempt to suggest 
those topics of consolation which would bid you strive to 
overcome such an affliction ; but trust, that, with the 
assistance of that fortitude of character, and reliance on 
Divine Providence, so eminently yours. Time, the com- 
forter, will soften the sharp and now ahnost insupportable 



394 APPENDIX. 

pang of your sorrow, into a melanclioly but pleasing recol- 
lection of the noble and amiable qualities of your deceased 
husband. That manly form, — that countenance radiant 
with genius, those eyes, beaming with intelligence and 
spirit, and at the same time with kindness and benevo- 
lence — they are all present to our minds. His varied and 
delightful conversation, — his exquisite taste, — his graceful 
manners, his love of truth, and scorn of all dissimulation 
and hypocrisy, his heart, that never seemed to know any 
other than the noblest impulses — these are with us still. 
They can never be taken away from the recollections of 
any that once knew him. 

Mrs. Atherton would write to you herself, but has 
been for several weeks quite ill, from the effects of a se- 
vere cough. She sends her warmest love and sympathy. 

I cannot conclude without expressing my sense of the 
loss which the public have sustained. The loss of such a 
man at any time, would be greatly regretted on public 
considerations ; but it is particularly to be lamented in 
times like the present, when men of his firmness and 
integrity, and weight of character, are so important in 
their influence for good on our country. 

It was one of the most gratifying anticipations con- 
nected with the senatorial term for which I am elected, 
that I should have the pleasure of listening to Dr. Linn 
in public, and enjoying his companionship in private. 
And in feehng how much I have lost myself, let me again 
assure you of my condolence in your heavy bereavement. 

Kemember me affectionately to Augustus, and beheve 
me, my dear madam, your friend and obedient servant, 

C. Gc. Athekton. 

To Mrs. E. A. R. Linn. 



APPENDIX. 395 



from hon. john henderson. 

Pass Christiax, Harrison Co., Mississippi, 

Nov. bih, 18i3. 

Dear Madam, — It has been with unaffected sorrow 
that I have heard of your sudden hereavemeut, in the 
loss of your honored and worthy husband. Regardless of 
political differences, there was scarcely another member of 
the U. S. Senate, for whom I entertained a more cordial 
attachment. And perhaps there is no other one remain- 
ing who had won for himself, of those politically opposed 
to him, so much of personal regard. And this was the 
more honorable, as all know who knew him, that he gained 
nothing of private favor, by any concession or compro- 
mise of his principles. 

.Were it here appropriate to speak of his public worth, 
— my private opinion, thus privately expressed, liowever 
complimentary, would be but cold and heartless sympathy 
in the deep affliction with which your heart must be pene- 
trated. Testimonials of public esteem you will doubtless 
see recorded to his memoiy, — ^but naught but time can 
heal the secret grief from such affliction. While yet de- 
pressed by all the gloomy concomitants of your recent 
calamity — while pangs of sorrow, seemingly inconsolable, 
are yet brooding in fresh anguish upon your spirits, — I 
know, my dear madam, of how little avail are words of 
condolence. But that little is to soothe and mitigate in 
some degree, the severest of earthly sufferings. And to 
this end, the profoundest sympathies of Mrs. Henderson 
and myself, are tendered you in all sincerity. 

With considerations of esteem, I am yours, &c. 

John Henderson. 
To Mrs. E. A. R. Linn. 



396 APPENDIX. 

FKOM HON. W. S. AKCHER. 

Washington, Feb. od, 1844. 

My dear Madam, — A painful and most j)rotracted 
disease has prevented the execution of my purpose, before 
getting your enclosure, some weeks ago, even at the haz- 
ard of an undue obtrusion on your distress, of conveying 
to you the sincere expression of my condolence on your 
great and irreparable, and my severe bereavement, re- 
cently sustained, 

I offer no exhortation on the duty of resignation to 
decrees, which it is not allotted to our province to scan 
(still loss to question), nor any hope of speedy consolation, 
I know too well the magnitude of your loss and your ap- 
preciation of that loss, to indulge the hope that such 
topics would be of avail. Kesignation comes from time, 
consolation from the hand which can alone effectively raise 
up the trodden down by calamity, and pour the healing 
balm into the wounds of the deeply afflicted. 

This resignation and this consolation, I do not permit 
myself to doubt, are destined to be your portion. They 
will be sent to you through the reward of those affections, 
to carry to which I know you are going to devote your 
time and faculties, to impress on your children both 
reverence and resemhlancc of their father. I could invoke 
for them no more favorable destiny than the last of these 
results, and sincere is the satisfaction which it would bring 
to me to learn of the realization. It can be no ill wish 
even for my httle favorite Mary, that she may resemble a 
character in which the lion lay down with the lamb spirit 
was embodied and kept controlled by divine grace. 

I cannot forbear to add, that the usage of the Senate 
not permitting more than two persons to be heard on the 
occasion of obituary notices, and the second to Col. Benton 



APPENDIX. 



397 



Laving been selected with propriety from his native State, 
I was° deprived of the satisfaction I should have found 
in giving expression to my own feelings, separately from 
the expression which was given by the Body generaUy. 
It only remains for me, dear lady, to express the good 
wishes for your continued health and restoration to happi- 
ness—with which I am most sincerely your friend, 

Wm. S. Archer. 



Mrs. E. A. R. Linn. 



FROM GEN. E. P. GAINES. 



Franklin, Tennessee, October olst, 1843. 
My dear Madam,— My wife and myself have learned, 
with deep affliction, the sad bereavement you have sus- 
tained in the sudden, the premature death of your excellent 
and beloved husband. If the heartfelt homage of admna- 
tion of his countrymen could soothe the sufferings of those 
most dear to him in his own Missouri, their afflictions 
should be lio-ht, as their sources of mournful consolation 
are abundant It has faUen to the lot of few men in 
America, and certainly no one west of the mountains, to 
depart this life more admired or more lamented by the 
people of the United States, than Doctor L. F. Linn. 
The name of the village at which I write reminds me of 
an impression which our journey to Wasliington some 
years past, affordhig me an opportunity of the first in- 
timate personal acquaintance with our deceased Iriend and 
yourself, that there was a striking similarity in the minds 
and moral sentiments of Doctors Linn and FrankUn. 
They were indeed alike in many respects. They were both 
nature's noblemen. If the people of America, as I am 
sure the people of the West and South, will long mourn 



398 APPENDIX. 

the loss of their talented friend and patriotic Senator, how 
much more deeply must his bereaved family and neighbors, 
and his immediate constituents, partake of the heart- 
rending affliction. 

My wife and myself desire to unite in offering to you 
and your family the slender but sincere tribute of that 
condolence which springs from the heart of friendship. 
Our exi3erience, however, assures us that the condolence 
of friends in such cases is unavailing. Time alone, added 
to the consolations which the Christian rehgion holds forth 
to the virtuous and the wise, can heal the wounds inflicted 
on an affectionate heart by the sudden loss of such a 
friend. 

Time has effected for me what I trust it will ere long 
accomplish for you and your amiable Mary and your noble- 
hearted Augustus, and every other member of your family. 
I have reasoned thus : — If we were truly loved by those 
we have lost — and that we were so loved, ten thousand 
proofs rise up in the reminiscences of a single day or an 
hour, that pure love ever watching over and sustaining us 
as a guardian angel, could not but embrace and sanction 
whatever moral or religious remedy is essential or proper 
to the restoration of our health and happiness here and 
hereafter. 

In conclusion, permit me to assure you, my amiable 
friend, for myself and my wife, that it will be to us a source 
of much satisfliction to be always recognized by j^ou and 
your family as your firm and unwavering friends ; and 
when, as we hope soon to have a house and a permanent 
residence in St. Louis, we shall take constant pleasure in 
affording you better proofs than we can in this way impart, 
of our desire and talent for restoring you to that social 
mood which has so often contributed to the happiness of 
all who had the pleasure of your daily attention in the. 



APPENDIX. 399 

same draiving-room and at the same mess-table for a 
winter in Washington : a winter replete with festive and 
social enjoyments, for a large share of which Mrs. G-aines 
and myself were indebted to you and your lamented 
husband. We are, dear madam, 

With affectionate respect, your friends, 

Edmund Pendleton Gaines, 



A FUNERAL DISCOURSE 

ox THE LIFE AND CH.UIACTER OF THE HON. LEWIS FIELD 
LINN, DELIVERED BEFORE THE CITIZENS OF ST. LOUIS, AT 
THEIR REQUEST, ON SUNDAY, THE IOTH DAY OF >-OVEMBER, 
1843, BY REV. JOHN H. LINN. 

With the nation at large we are called upon to lament 
a very afflictive public bereavement, in the death of a 
great and good man. Dr. Lewis Field Linn, endeared to us 
by the important public services that crowned his life, and 
by the many virtues that so eminently adorned his private 
character. 

But we mourn his departure from among us the more, 
because the inscrutable event has overtaken us at a time 
when we looked not for it, — when from the past we w^ere 
looking with eager anticipation to still more important 
services ; when it seemed certain to all that much benefit 
to our common country, and to the interests of our wide- 
spreadiug Valley especially, was about to ensue from liis 
personal exertions ; wlien all eyes and all hearts were turned 
to him, with a quickened impulse and enlarged desires. 

In these circumstances — ^liuw suddenly ! in a moment ! 
have all these hopes been blasted by the melancholy, 



400 APPENDIX. 

withering intelligence — not that Dr. Linn was sick, dying 
— but dead, buried. 

It is not for weak, erring mortals, like us, to murmur 
at a dispensation so dark and mysterious as the abrupt ex- 
tinction of this steadily burning light in the moral and 
in the political world. But, while this event has come 
down upon us, at noonday, like the drapery of midnight, 
we see upon its ample folds the sublime truth written with 
the finger of Heaven — " It is of the Lord." 

The loss we have sustained is as unspeakable as it is 
unexpected. It has created a void in our community and 
a chasm in our affections and attachments, which we can 
never hope to have supplied. He was not one of those 
ordinary men, who may disappear from the stage of life, 
without being missed or regretted, beyond the circle of 
their private acquaintance, and whose place can be easily 
supplied from the circle they have left behind. Nor is 
it scarce enough to say, that he belonged to that more 
limited class, whose abilities, education, and influence have 
given them a position in the world that few can hope to 
attain ; but in the combination of intellectual and moral 
worth, he stood among contemporaries, like Saul among 
the hosts of Israel. He occupied a place which nothing 
but intellectual strength and moral greatness could have 
enabled him to secure, and maintain to the day of his 
death ; and we may affirm that among those who can 
discern the things that diff'er, who know how to appreciate 
intellectual vigor, moral Avorth, honest independence, prac- 
tical usefulness, real learning, disinterested generosity, and 
inflexible integrity, no man was more highly or more justly 
esteemed while he lived, or more deeply regretted when 
he died. 

To give any suitable delineation of him, is a task to 
which I confess my inadequacy. I was not privileged 



APPENDIX. 401 

with his friendship, and with his acquaintance only par- 
tially. If I had known him, I could not sj)eak of him 
as he ought to be spoken of. I could not speak of him 
as you would justly expect. I could not speak as my 
own heart would ardently wish ; I could not speak as 
others, who — I will not say have loved him more, for thou- 
sands who have not known him personally, have not loved 
him the less, but wlio possess more competency — could 
and would have spoken of him. This inability I regret 
the less, because his character, in all its aspects, was 
familiar to your minds. You knew him well ; you loved 
him dearly ; you venerated him highly. Many of you re- 
cognized in him the warm, devoted, unchanging personal 
friend. Many of your fathers and mothers he has visited 
in the hour of sickness and attended their dying beds ; 
and when skill and attention were unable to save, the 
sympathies of his generous nature proved unfailing. 

I liardly need teU you liis character. It had a length 
and breadth about it, Avhich made it obvious to aU. 
Nothing hidden or equivocal —all wide-open, candid, ma- 
jestic. There was a magnanimity, a strength, a fulness, 
a freshness, an originality about his modes of thinking and 
acting, which were as eminent to the eye of observation 
as tlie lineaments of his broad and benevolent face. We 
employ, too, because of its ai)propriateness, the language 
of a writer, whose success in describing character has been 
unparalleled in the world of letters : 

" This was the noblest Roman of them all : 
His life was gentle, and tlie elements 
So mixed in him, that nature might stand up 
And say to all the world — this was a man." 

As you are informed through the public papers, Dr. 
Linn was a native of Kentucky. He was born in the year 

26 



402 APPENDIX. 

1795, about four miles from the City of Louisville, The 
enterprising spirit of his grand-parents had carried them 
in advance of civilization. In the defence of the frontier 
settlements from Indian aggression, and in the organization 
of civil and social society, they were required to act a con- 
spicuous part. His mother was born in the town of Car- 
lisle, in the State of Pennsylvania, and emigrating to 
Kentucky at an early period, was married to Israel Dodge, 
She was subsequently married to Ashael Linn, and Lewis 
was the second of three children by that marriage. 
Though but a boy at the decease of his father, in the 
household he had been carefully taught the pioneer virtues 
of industry, frankness, honesty and firmness, and there 
mind and body were attaining their wonted vigor together. 

Such a period in society might be thought by some 
unfavorable to the improvement or development of in- 
tellect, but in this community it will not be regarded as 
without its advantages. If to such a place you transport 
the little community of an educated domestic circle, and 
supply it with the inventions, discoveries and histories of 
man, it is doubtful whether the wisdom of the head as 
well as the heart would not more expand than in the 
associations of dense society. In a school where the 
hardier graces of a man were taught at a period eminently 
favorable to the production of a simple, resolute and 
elevated character. Senator Linn had his birth and educa- 
tion. 

At that time Kentucky was a border country. The 
emigrant's axe was just claiming its first trophies. The 
yell of the savage. had not yet died away upon the distant 
forest, A way had not been opened to refinement. The 
soil had not yet been taxed to supply the imaginary wants 
of human society, for such demands are few and simple, 
and always readily and abundantly supplied. The riotings 



APPENDIX. 403 

and excesses of luxury were not known, and no contribu- 
tions for its insatiate appetite had, as yet, been levied. 
The high claims of honor, held sacred and inviolate, and 
•not the mere restrictions of law, regulated the intercourse 
of man with his fellow. The monuments of nature stood 
undefaced by the aggressions of society, the mis-styled tri- 
umphs of man. 

There, breathing an atmosphere uucontaminated by 
the baleful presence of oppression and deceitfulness, of 
fraud and force, his manly and chivalric spirit flourished 
on the food afforded, and assimilated more and more to 
the objects of its contemplation. Inchned to study and 
reflection, his walk, if not with God, was among the sub- 
lime and ennobling forms of his greatness. Upon the vast 
prairie he stood, and along the banks of the beautiful Ohio 
he wandered, feeling not only the existence, but the 
presence of his and their Creator. Thus attended, thus 
surrounded, he advanced towards the era of majority. 
We claim for him no academic or collegiate honors ; for 
Academies and Colleges were then scarce thought of in the 
country west of the Alleglianies ; but even at that period 
his intellect may be thought worthy a comparison with 
those who may be regarded as fovored with more imposing • 
facilities. Superior in strength and singleness of purpose, 
and in the dignity of his whole moral character, it only 
remained to be tried whether his mind had capacity to 
take high intellectual rank. 

At the requisite age, he began the study of medicine 
under the instruction of Dr. Gait, of Louisville, Ky. ; 
and it was there that he made more extensively those ac- 
quisitions, not only in science, but in the habits of study, 
which often lie at the foundation of character as subse- 
(piently developed, but which so eminently qualified him 
for future usefulness. At the request of liis half brother, 



404 APPENDIX. 

Henry Dodge, the present Delegate from tlie Territoiy of 
Wisconsin, he visited the then Territory of Missouri, as 
early as 1812. He returned, however, to Kentucky to 
resume the study of his profession, and when prepared 
to practise, revisited and settled in St. Genevieve about 
the year 1815. From that time to the period when he 
was appointed one of the Commissioners under the Act 
of Congress, of 9th of July, 1832, to investigate and re- 
port on the French and Spanish claims, he devoted himself 
with great assiduity to the study and practice of his pro- 
fession. 

Warm and generous in his friendships, none could 
surpass him in sympathy for the afflicted and suffering, 
and thus controlled, his attentions were unremitting. To 
skill that was seldom baffled, there was added this essen- 
tial qualification of a successful physician — a benevolent 
heart ; a heart that feels his patient's pain as if it were 
his own ; that looks on the woe-stricken countenance of a 
wife, and resolves that, if possible, she shall be saved from 
the desolateness of widowhood ; that looks on weeping 
children and resolves that no energy shall be spared in 
saving them from the orphan's destitution ; that looks at 
a father's and mother's anguish, and resolves that, God 
assisting, he will save their child. 

It was the enthusiasm of this benevolence that diffused 
over the whole character of Dr. Linn a sacred splendor — 
adorned and imbued liis whole behavior. Never did the 
love of ease, or study, or friends, present a single tempta- 
tion to confine him to his books, or detain him with the 
society of his companions, or at the convivial feast, when 
he should be watching by the couch of sickness. His 
manners, always natural and easy, rendered him not only 
accessible to all, but so prepossessing and delightful that 
it was absolutely impossible for any, however circum- 



APPENDIX. 405 

stancecl in life, to feel uneasy or restless in his comiiany. 
Hence the most unreserved confidence always subsisted 
between him and his patients ; and the memorials of his 
tenderness and skill are to be found in the grateful recol- 
lections of all classes of society, in the entire southern 
portion of our State. For, however much dissimilar views 
upon religion and politics may affect the state of society 
generally, it never lost Dr. Linn one friend, or made him 
less studious or anxious about their wants. 

His reputation as a pliysician had become so extensive, 
and the demands upon him so frequent — and he w^as one 
of those to whom an appeal was never made in vain — 
that apprehensions in relation to his health, from fatigues 
and exposures, induced him to accept the appointment of 
Commissioner, under the Act of July, 1832. To dis- 
charge the duties of his office, he removed to this city, in 
June, 1833, and though the practice of his profession was 
not entirely abandoned at this, or any subsequent period, 
we find him entering a theatre upon which he not only 
sustained himself creditably, but secured an enviable dis- 
tinction. 

It was said by a celebrated Athenian commander, 
that it was a reproach to a General to have it to say of 
any event — "I had not expected it." Such censure could 
seldom attach to. Senator Linn. The success of all that 
he undertook, evinced the versatihty of his mind and the 
energy of his whole character ; and if in the political 
world he had left no other monument of his wisdom and 
prudence, than recommending the policy to be pursued by 
the Government of the United States, in confirming 
grants to the French and Spanish claimants, he would 
have been entitled to a high place among sound and prac- 
tical financiers. But having thus been thrown within the 
confines of political life, without design on his part, un- 



406 APPENDIX, 

impelled bj'^ ambition, and uncontrolled by selfishness, 
a wider sphere of usefulness was opening before him. 

It is said that the history of our free institutions is 
contained in the biograi3hy of the great men who conduct 
State affairs, and as examples of integrity and intellect 
are frequent or rare in living patriots, so will be the dura- 
tion or decay of Kepublics. National character depends 
upon individual exemplifications. Polished Greece and 
Imperial Kome owe their distinction to the sovereignty of 
Genius ; and to their poets, philosophers, legislators, his- 
torians and heroes, they have chained their immortality. 
The glory or shame of nations, then, is established by 
individuals, not by masses that pass in solemn review 
before posterity. " Nothing," says the same writer, " tends 
more to the preservation of a nation's untarnished honor 
in every trial, perhaps nothing so effectually nerves him 
for the greatest human exertion for his country, more than 
that he will, after all is over in the tomb, receive not only 
the justice, but the chaplet of that tribunal. With this 
bright vision of the future before him, he will pass in 
safety through temptation, and present an undaunted 
front to the perils as well as labors of life." 

It is with reference to such results, that you have 
asked for a deliueation of the moral and intellectual fea- 
tures of one who has been pronounced a " model states- 
man," and whom we pronounce, in all the relations of life, 
a model man. But when the eulogy of your sjieaker 
shall have gone down with him in forgetfulness to the 
grave, the youth of America will find in the archives of 
their country, in unfading and faithful colors, that like- 
ness, not only as a memorial of one loved and lost, but as 
an example and model for their study and imitation. 
Always a child of Providence, he was not required to pass 
the subordinate drudgery of a politician's hfe ; having 



APPENDIX. 



407 



served one session in tlie Senate of Missouri, lie was ele- 
vated by the suffrage of Heaven to a place in the highest 
deliberative assembly in the first Government in the 

world. 

Lewis Field Linn was a statesman of Heaven's own 
selection. In October, 1833, he was appointed by Gov. 
Dunklin to supply the vacancy in the Senate of the 
United States, occasioned by the death of the Hon. Alex- 
ander Buckner, and took his seat in that body at the Ses- 
sion of 1833 and '4. It is said that Dr. Linn was unac- 
customed to the duties of a Legislator, for he had never 
made politics his study ; but all admit that he showed 
himself equal to the responsibilities of his unsought and 
unexpected station. His was not the dreary gradation of 
a no\'itiate. Comprehending at once, and as if by in- 
stinct, the duties of his new position, he soon acquired an 
honorable stand among the great men who then sat in 
that body. The impression that he made in our National 
Councils was felt at home, and the Legislature of Mis- 
souri, at its ensuing session, with scarcely a dissenting 
voice, expressed its confidence in him as a public servant. 
He was re-elected by a large majority in 1836 and '7, and 
again, with the approbation of all parties, in 1842 and '3. 

Every distinct period in the history of our country has 
demanded a peculiar order of statesmen, and required 
some peculiar endowments in those who hold the helm of 
State. A bold and fearless spirit was needed to ring the 
knell of despotism in the ear of iron-handed tyranny ; 
and the thundering voice of an eloquent Henry, breaking 
upon our Legislative halls, woke into life the previously 
dormant energies of the American people. A spirit of 
noble enterprise and bold daring was demanded to be 
ready to stand on trial before kings, and to meet death in 
any form, and there was hung before the wondering, 



408 APPENDIX. 

anxious gaze of patriotism, like the visioned sheet before 
the entranced Apostle, a bill of rights to be vindicated, 
and a bill of wrongs to be redressed, signed by a host of 
worthies, in flaming capitals, flashing terror into the 
hearts of the enemies of our country. Subsequently, the 
times demanded men of steady firmness, of unwavering 
integrity, of unflinching courage, in whose breast the fire 
of patriotism was an inextinguishable flame, and the 
great and good Washington was furnished. The days of 
the Kevolution demanded a peculiar order of men. All 
the other qualifications of every other age seemed to be 
required in combination. These men were doubtless 
made, in part, by the times in which they lived, but they 
would have been adapted to any age, and would have left 
the impress of their great minds upon it. 

It would be pleasant, but might prove a dangerous 
task, to mark the distinctive periods of our country's his- 
tory, and delineate the master-spirits that have troubled 
or quelled this great political ocean But I may, without 
fear, proceed to inquire what are the qualifications most 
needed by a statesman in the times in which we five. 

The founders of our Government were distinguished 
for what is sensible and solid, rather than for what is 
brilliant ; for the useful rather than the visionary ; for 
what Mr. Locke calls large, sound, round-about sense, and 
having fought hard for peace and suffered much, they 
knew how to enjoy it. But for the last few years, there 
has been an increasing fondness for political combat and 
partisan gladiatorship. Now, whatever may have been 
the causes, and whoever may have been to blame, it is 
apparent that this spirit of contention and strife has been 
indulged to a melancholy extent, and that the weapons of 
war are still kept furbished and ready for use. Having . 
tned these weapons long enough to ascertain that they 



APPENDIX. 409 

are used with only the advantage that accrues to an army 
in a dark night, when the life of friend and foe is indis- 
criminately endangered, the times demand men of i^eace — 
statesmen, distinguished for their frankness, candor, hon- 
esty, and forbearance. It is said of Dr. Linn, that 
" firm, yet conciliating, candid, yet courteous, he sat in 
the councils of our nation at a time when party spirit ran 
higher than at any other 'period in the liistory of our gov- 
ernment, and without compromising one jot or tittle of the 
principles upon which he had been elected to that high 
office, he maintained terms of friendship and respect with 
every member of the Senate, with one exception." 

Then Lewis Field Linn was such a statesman as the 
times required. His kind and generous heart felt that 
this din of political strife had been heard long enough ; 
that enousrh of that olorv had been achieved which can 
be secured only by arrapng brother against brother, altar 
against altar, and forum against forum ; or by skill in 
noisy polemics and in harsh denunciation, by rending 
society asunder, and by triumph when victory is always 
equal to defeat. It was not the Shibboleth of party that 
he defended, but the great principles of constitutional 
liberty as he understood and construed them, for which 
he was the unflinching and unwavering advocate. 

An interesting and characteristic incident is related of 
him, illustrative of the influence he exerted upon his own 
and the then dominant party in Congress. A number of 
bills had been put into his hands by a political friend, 
aflecting important personal and local interests, which he 
felt, to offer himself, would be to jeopard at least. He 
took them, and in his usual happy and conciliatory man- 
ner, began unfolding the package and addressing himself 
to their merits, Avhen Mr. Buchanan arose and remarked 
pleasantly — " Doctor, we'll save you the trouble, if you 



4] APPENDIX. 

recommend tliem, we'll pass the whole bundle." This 
suggestion was in the same spirit seconded by Mr. Clay. 
And though all this was done plaj^ully, it shows the esti- 
mation in which he was held by personal friends and 
political opponents. 

In debate Dr. Linn seemed unconscious of his owm 
strength, for if in this respect he was not distinguished he 
possessed some advantages. While he did not obtrude 
himself into every discussion, as if no question, however 
trivial, could be settled, until his opinion was given, yet 
neither did any array of opposition, nor any fear of 
responsibility, nor any apprehension for his popularity, 
deter him from taking such part in the most important 
debates as commended itself to his judgment and con- 
science. He was an unpretending man and therefore diffi- 
dent. He seldom ventured to speak, and never until he 
had possessed himself of the facts, and then he never 
failed to sustain himself creditably, and his arguments 
were always heard with great deference. He sought his 
country's good, not his own promotion. He was scarcely 
ever provoked to piersonal invective, but when such cir- 
cumstances did occur, his sarcasm was bold and wither- 
ing. It was evident to all that he sought, not to defeat 
and confound his opponents, much less to degrade them 
in their own estimation or in the oj)inion of others, but 
with a look, manner and language which bespoke his own 
candor and sincerity, to lead them to his conclusions — 
and his competency was only paralleled by his faithfulness 
and untiring industry. Says Mr. Buchanan, the distin- 
guished Senator from Pennsylvania, in a letter of condo- 
lence to his family : " He was indeed every tiling which 
constitutes a man ; mild, amiable, and benevolent of heart, 
he was yet the very soul of chivalry and honor. Possess- 
ing uncommon talents and extensive information, he was 



APPENDIX. 411 

one of the ablest and most useful members of tbe Senate, 



and yet lie ever seemed unconscious of his own great 
powers. His loss to his personal and political friends in 
that body is irreparable. No man in the country can 
supply his place. He was the rock against whose firmness 
the storm might beat, but beat in vain ; and he was ever 
as prompt and decided in sustaining his friends, in their 
hour of need, as in defending himself And yet in him 
the elements were so combined, that his political oppo- 
nents were all his friends." He adds — and it is a noble 
tribute — " Beyond all question, he was the most popular 
man among his fellow members in the Senate of the 
United States."' 

The basis of his well-formed public character was his 
private virtues. The impression left upon the mind of 
every one who had intercourse with him for a single hour, 
was, that he possessed honesty which could not be cor- 
rupted — integrity which could not be moved by prosperity, 
nor shaken by adversity. 

His stern and inflexible moral principles were written 
upon every lineament of his strongly marked countenance 
— upon every word that fell from his lips, and upon every 
action of his life, whether as a citizen or public servant. 

As the result of this last trait, he was possessed of de- 
cision of character. He knew — he felt he was right, and 
then he was never moved from liis course by trifles. When 
any thing was to be done, he was unwearied until its com- 
pletion ; and this was the case whether one object, or a 
multi])licity of cares, pressed upon him. But he was 
never obstinate ; for his decision, energy and unyielding 
perseverance, were controlled by the native, unaffected be- 
nevolence of his heart. And to the presence of these be- 
nevolent aifections he was largely indebted for that graceful 
and easy pohteness, that unassuming suavity of temper, 



412 APPENDIX. 

which were so conspicuous in his intercourse with society, 
and which so justly and eminently entitled liim to the uni- 
formly and universally recognized appellation — " the peace- 
lovins; Senator." 

The acquisition of the Platte country, and the hill for 
the occupation and settlement of Oregon, were the promi- 
nent measures introduced, and successfully recommended 
by him, during his short but useful Congressional career. 
And his colleague, with becoming magnanimity, has testi- 
fied that these bills were carried through the Senate at a 
time, and under circumstances, when the gentleness and 
firmness, the suavity and energy of Senator Linn, made 
him alone competent for this splendid achievement. " In 
reference to the character, designs and provisions of the 
Oregon bill, we give you the language of his colleague : 
" It was the measure of a statesman. Just to the settler, 
it was wise to the Grovernment. The settler has a right 
to have a home in the new country which he reclaims from 
the wilderness and the savage. The Government of the 
United States can only save its domain on the Oregon by 
planting its colonies there. Land is the inducement and 
the reward to emigration — and that land was granted by 
the bill — liberally granted to the wife and to the children 
— to the young man and the widow, as well as to the hus- 
band and the father." '' That bill," he adds, " is the vin- 
dication and assertion of the American title against the 
daring designs of England, and the only way to save 
the country. And in the conception and recommendation 
of this bill, he showed himself alike solicitous to secure 
personal interests and national honor." Well has it been 
said that the name of Linn wiU be identified with the 
rising, spreading glory of that immense territory. 

We have followed Senator Linn through his compara- 
tively brief, but distinguished career ; in boyhood, acquir- 



APPENDIX. 413 

ing those habits of mind and body that indicated the 
promise of his usefulness to the world ; in his profession, 
with a mind richly stored with general as well as profes- 
sional information, with a heart alive to all the tender 
and generous sensibiKties of our nature, throwing the 
drapery of kindness over the chamber of affliction, lighting 
up a milder sun in the sky overcast with the clouds of 
misfortune, and searcliing out the causes of distress that 
he knew not. Like Job, he was eyes to the blind, and 
feet to the lame, a father to the orphan, and the widow's 
friend. 

Says my correspondent, " Could the world have seen 
Dr. Linn's house when liis death was made known at St, 
Genevieve, then indeed would his worth have been appre- 
ciated. The rich and poor filled his house and yard, from 
the town and country, to learn if the melancholy news 
was true — that their friend, their kind physician for so 
many years, who never charged the widow or the poor man 
for his individual services — their benevolent fellow-citizen, 
who had so often put in jeopardy all he had on earth to 
save their property, was indeed gone from them for ever. 
Even the poor Africans, whose sick beds Dr. Liuu had 
watched over many a long and weary night, were seen 
kneeling around the heart-broken widow and ori)han chil- 
dren, begging to know if they could serve them in any 
way." " Surely," adds my correspondent, " such heart- 
felt affection for any man, such profound sympathy for his 
family, could not be manifested more strongly for any 
person, than was evinced by those who followed him to his 
last home." 

At the call of his coimtry he promptly relinquished 
his profession and entered upon the duties of a public 
servant ; as a Commissioner, satisftictorily adjusting an- 
tagonist claims, involving important private and public 



414 APPENDIX. 

interests ; as a Senator, standing forth on this great the- 
atre, acknowledged by all a great and good man, lending 
the energies of his mighty mind to defend the institutions 
of his country from all assaults, both from within and 
without. Devoted to the interests of his constituents, he 
showed himself a faithful and industrious Kepresentative. 
But while the memorials of his tenderness shall thus 
be gathered up by iiis friends, in private life ; while love 
and affection mourn him, yet not as those who mourn 
without hope ; while the memory of his devotedness to 
this wide-spreading valley will be long and tenderly cher- 
ished ; while Oregon shall in her orphanage inquire, who 
will now defend her honor, her character, her interests ? — 
the records of the Church will testify to his virtues, his 
spirituality, his devotion to his God. 

" Know ye a Prince hath fallen ? Nature gave 
The signet of her royalty — and years 
Of mighty labor won the sceptred power 
Of knowledge — which from unborn ages claims 
Homage and empire, such as time's keen tooth 
May never waste — yea- — and the grace of God 
So witnessed with his spirit, so impelled 
To deeds of Christian love, that there is reared 
A monument for him, which hath no dread 
Of that tierce flame that wrecks the solid earth ! " 

Early and favorably impressed with the truths of the 
Christian religion, a close study of these truths produced, 
under the influence of the Holy Spirit — as was to be ex- 
pected in a mind honest and sincere as his — a firm and 
steadfast faith as to its divine origin and its infinite in- 
terests and obhgations. And his attachment to the fun- 
damental verities of the Bible became firm and exemplary, 
and grew in strength and influence to the very close of his 
life. It is a melancholy fact that many — alas ! too many. 



APPENDIX. 415 

of our distinguished men — men who are called by the suf- 
frages of their country to occupy important and command- 
ing positions in society, do not recognize, do not acknow- 
ledge the claims of our Holy Christianity. Xor is this, in 
most instances, accompanied by a wanton and wilfid rejec- 
tion of its truths, or an utter disregard of its appeals — or 
a contempt for its institutions — but, involved in multitu- 
dinous political cares, they at first find but httle time, and 
subsequently less disposition, for matters affecting their 
souls' destiny ; while a few rashly prefer the glory of a 
day to that which lasts for ever. Not so with Dr. Linn. 
In the principles of the Christian faith, and in the sanc- 
tions of the Christian religion, he matured his character, 
secured his happiness, and founded his hopes. 

The details of his conversion I have not been able to 
obtain. His avowed and decided preference for the Kev. 
Mr. Cookman, then chaplain to Congress, and pastor of 
one of the ]\Iethodist churches in the city of Washington, 
induced him in the winter of 1839 to wait upon the min- 
istiy of that great and good man, whose melancholy fate 
he deplored so deeply, and with whose sainted spirit he is 
now enjoying delightful communion before the throne of 
God. On the fifth day of April, of that year, he joined 
the M. E. Church, and from that period to the day of his 
death devoted much of his time to religious puq^oses — to 
the study of the Bible and the perusal of religious "books. 

With the minute details of his religious experience I 
am as unacquainted as with those of his conversion. On 
these points of his personal histofy and fechngs, he was 
constitutionally and habitually reserved ; but when cir- 
cumstances elicited remark, he was frank, and in these 
particulars manifested the simplicity of a child. But the 
genuine proofs of religion were visible to those who knew 
him best, and could but command their esteem and love, 



416 APPENDIX. 

notwitlistanding any occasional infirmity or manifestation 
of frailty they might discover. As a Christian, he was 
alike uncompromising in reference to the doctrines or du- 
ties of his faith. His experience, so far as I can learn, was 
not the mere triumph of joyous feeling, directly excited in 
the soul by an indication or act of overwhelming mercy, 
without any particular mental exertion or the apphcation 
of sacred truth. God often vouchsafes these blessings to 
minds that need them — whose intellectual faculties have 
been so untrained, or so unfurnished with materials, as to 
render them most accessible to the consolations of Chris- 
tianity by immediate agency on the affections. Thus the 
Almighty affords help and comfort to all, be their mental 
structures and attainments what they may. With Dr. 
Linn, religion was a triumph of principle, rather than the 
predominance of powerful emotion. Hence, he lived hum- 
bly — very humbly — and retiringly as a Christian, and as 
a Christian ought to live, yet very majestically, also, if I 
may so speak. Through the grace which was upon him — 
grace which could act in that particular only on a mind 
like his own, strong, vigorous, accustomed to close study^ 
familiarized by habit to the most sublime and heavenly 
views of truth. Though well informed and firm in his re- 
ligious opinions, it is not necessary for me to say that a 
mind so well balanced, a heart so thoroughly controlled 
by gentleness and kindness, could never forget the lofty 
and commanding position of the Christian in the restric- 
tions of a mere sectarian. No ! his was a pure cathohc 

spirit. • 

For the last several months he was peculiarly thought- 
ful and heavenly minded. A temporary but severe indis- 
position, early last spring, left him with the radical and 
permanent impression that he would not long survive. 
This impression he often communicated to his family, al- 



APPENDIX. 417 

ways accompanjing it with a desire to have his -worldly- 
affairs well arranged, and himself in preparation for an- 
other existence. " On the 28th of last April," says my 
correspondent, " late at night, he desired that his house- 
hold should be called together, and, with his wife and 
children by his side, kneeling, in a most fervent and devout 
manner he dedicated himself and them to the Great Head 
of the Church — that, whether they Hved, they should live 
unto the Lord, or whether they die, they should die unto 
the Lord ; that, whether they live therefore or die, they 
should be the Lord's." That solemn scene will not soon 
be forgotten. An offering was laid upon that altar, the 
perfumes of which have left a delightful fragrance behind, 
and in years to come, when memory shall recall that scene, 
how like an angel will he rise up from the dominions of 
death, the very personification of love, of generosity, of 
kindness, of friendship, of truth and heavenly ardor. But 
in an effort to delineate his religious character, I find my- 
self invading that sacred enclosure, the domestic circle, 
Avhere every step must wring out tears and press the bleed- 
ing hearts of the widowed and fatherless ones. Oh ! would 
to God that I could now retire, and let the Guardian An- 
gel, with a feather plucked from his own bright silvery 
wing, describe the scenes of reciprocated tenderness and 
love that made his home an earthly Paradise. The image 
is present to my own mind with all the glowing freshness 
of life. Here are combined, like nestling seraphs, the 
graces of moral beauty, the breathing forms of holy friend- 
ship and mutual love. The majesty and dignity of giant 
mind turning aside from the world eager to do it homage, 
bending in admiration over the gentle flower at his side, 
while the cherub faces and merry tones of early childhood 
exhibit such a vision of felicity as to be cherished, loved, 
almost adored — while upon this already hallowed scene 



418 APPENDIX. 

religion throws its radiance, like a stray sunbeam, piercing 
the drifted cloud and opening up another day. 

This state of uninterrupted domestic bhss was the re- 
sult of the happy and appropriate marriage, in 1818, of 
Dr. Linn and the only daughter of Mr. John Kelfe, a law- 
yer of distinguished abilities from the State of Virginia, 
who died in early life, leaving but two children, Mrs. Linn 
and Dr. James H. Relfe, a Kepresentative now in Con- 
gress from Missouri. Of his immediate relations, Dr. Linn 
left one own sister, a half-brother, Hon. Henry Dodge, 
and a half-sister, Mrs. Nancy Sefton, with their families, 
to all of whom he was tenderly attached, and among whom 
he felt and made no distinction. Of a large family of 
children. Dr. Linn left but two, a son and daughter, to 
mourn their loss, and soothe by their society and sympathy 
the aching heart of a widowed mother. God bless thee, 
Augustus ! God bless thee, Mary ! Yours is a rich in- 
heritance — in your veins is coursing in blending currents 
the blood of a patriot and a Christian. Upon your desti- 
nies rest the blessings of a sainted father. In your behalf 
ig enlisted the sympathy of the Church. Hearts, fond 
hearts, are beating high for you — prayers, warm and earnest, 
are offered up for you. Voices, glad voices, will welcome 
you at the threshold, and cheer you through the pathway 
of life. Go, be ornaments of society — go, and may that 
God who has promised to be a Father to the fatherless, 
shield and protect you ! — go, imitate the virtues of one 
loved and lost !— go, and let the dawning graces of youth 
reflect, as in a mirror, to the anxious eye of your widowed 
mother the light of him who was her protector through 
life — whose tenderness and care constituted her sum of 
happiness, and who, connected with this, has only one 
other source of comfort — the religion of Christ. An illus- 
trious instance for condolence and comfort is furnished us 



APPENDIX. 419 

by the last words of that distinguished statesman, whose 
melancholy fate our country will never cease to deplore — 
Alexander Hamilton : " Kemember," said he, with the ut- 
most composure, to his wife, almost frantic with grief, 
" remember, my Eliza, you are a Christian." 

The accounts published of the last moments of Dr. 
Linn are substantially, though not minutely, correct. Up 
to the evening of the 2d ultimo, he was in the enjoyment 
of unusually good health. Having just arrived at home, 
on the day previous, after an absence of twelve days, he 
was busily engaged in arranging some private papers, in- 
tending on the next day to visit St. Louis. During that 
day he had indulged much anxiety in relation to a private 
paper of considerable importance, that he apprehended 
had been mislaid. Late in the afternoon, in stooj^ing to 
search a tnmk, he raised his head suddenly and asked 
Mrs. Linn, who had been assiduously engaged in assisting 
her husband, if his face was not very much flushed, as he 
felt exceedingly dizzy, and there seemed to be a general 
determination of blood to the head. The painful sensa- 
tion, however, passed off", and he resisted the suggestion 
that he should be bled during the evening, and to a late 
hour at night he was engaged in correspondence and in 
conversation with his family, whose society, he said, never 
seemed so sweet as upon that evening. When he retired, 
he was indisposed to sleep, but did not complain of being 
unwell. As the morning dawned, he remarked that he 
felt unusually sleepy. His wife, who had been accustomed 
to watch over him with sleepless vigilance for years, when 
there was the slightest indication of indisposition or undue 
nervous irritation, i)roposed to write the letters that ho 
had dictated, and watch over him, that he might not be 
disturl)ed by the approach of any one. Whilst thus em- 
ployed, she frequently turned and gazed upon him to see 



420 APPENDIX. 

if he was awake — but he slept on, gently and quietly as 
an infant. Having finished the correspondence, and being 
much fatigued and oppressed for want of sleep, she con- 
cluded she would He down by his side, to be ready, when 
he awoke, to wait upon him herself, as he had afiection- 
ately requested. As she drew aside the curtain to look 
again upon the calm and tranquil features of her loved 
husband — quick as thought, a dark, death-presaging 
shadow passed over his face ! For a moment she was 
transfixed. It was not the painful apprehension that she 
was watching by the bed of death, that converted that 
fearful expression into the precursor of dissolution. Others 
might have seen it and no fear been started ; but a 
woman's love, a wife's tenderness, marks the first indica- 
tion of death, and, sleepless and vigUant, she is ever found 
ready to catch upon her lips the last faint breath. With 
Mrs. Linn vigilance had become habitual ; a moment's 
relief suggested that all her fears might be groundless. 
But another look, and though her loved husband still 
breathed on, confirmed her fears that life, gradually sink- 
ing down into the horizon of death, was throwing its mel- 
ancholy farewell rays in golden beauty over the uncon- 
scious sleeper. The agonizing cry soon filled the chamber 
of the dying husband and father, not only with the in- 
mates of the family, but sympathizing friends, among 
whom was Dr. Sargeant, who providentially passed the 
house at that moment, and who Avas by his bedside only 
to see him draw a few faint breaths ; and then, without a 
struggle or a sigh, he exchanged a life full of honors, on 
earth, for an eternal life, full of glory, at the right hand 
of God. 

It certainly would have been gratifying to the Church 
and to liis friends, to have had his dying testimony ; yet 
this could not be necessary for the assurance of his peace- 



APPENDIX. 421 

M end and eternal felicity. " They that live well shall 
die well," has become a religious maxim, incontestably 
proved by Scripture authority. Unwavering faith, ardent 
love, uniform piety, are the only necessary, the most de- 
sirable assurances, of a peaceful and happy death. But I 
will indulge no further comment upon this afflicting and 
unexpected dispensation. A minister of the religion of 
the blessed Prince of Peace, I will stoop over the bereaved, 
the sorrowing, the heart-stricken, and administer the con- 
solation of the Gospel that hath brought life and immor- 
tality to light. I will suppress my own sighs and teach 
them to say — " It is of the Lord, let him do with us as 
seemeth good in his sight." I will lean over affection's 
dismantled harp in sad, heart-burdened silence, and point 
to the spirit-land where its notes in unbroken harmony 
will mingle with the songs of immortality. A minister of 
peace, I would stand upon the gloomy confines of the 
damp, dark grave, with the Bible in mv liand, read from 
its heaven-inspired pages these ever enduring lines — words 
that shall survive when the grass has withered and the 
flower laded : — " Blessed are the dead that die in the 
Lord, even so saith the Spirit, from henceforth they cease 
from their labors, and their Avorks do follow them." 



The following eloquent tribute to the worth and mem- 
ory of Dr. Linn fell from the lips of Col. Rollins, a whig 
member of the Missouri Legislature, twelve years after 
Dr. L. had passed away : — 

Mr. Rollins said he had just heard the bill read, and 
his attention was called to it by the mention of the name 
of Lewis F. Linn. His heart was always touched, when 



422 APPENDIX. 

the memory and services of our distinguislaed men, wlio 
had passed from the stage of action, were brought in re- 
view before him, and by none sooner than by the name of 
Lewis F, Linn ! 

Mr. Kollins said he had enjoyed but a slight personal 
acquaintance with that good and noble man ; but it was 
one of the pleasing memories of his life, the day that he 
formed his acquaintance, now twenty-four years ago, al- 
most a quarter of a century. Mr. E. said when he was 
a youth, having just left college, he paid his first visit 
to Jefferson City. On the hill, near the Governor's house, 
stood the old capitol of the State. The General Assem- 
bly was in session. Dr. Linn was a member of the Sen- 
ate, the most graceful, elegant and accomplished gen- 
tleman of that body. Mr. K. said he remembered his 
warm and cordial reception, when he was introduced to 
him. An impression had been made upon his youthful 
heart which would never be effaced. From that time he 
had watched with solicitude and deep interest the career 
of Dr. Linn. After having served Missouri faithfully and 
honorably as a legislator, a vacancy occurring in the U. 
S. Senate, in consequence of the death of Senator Buck- 
ner, he was transferred by the appointment of Governor 
Dunklin, to that body. He entered that forum of distin- 
guished men a stranger, but on account of his high and 
chivalrous impulses, his noble and manly bearing, the 
beauty and gracefulness of his whole character, he won 
at once an enviable position in the Senate ; and Mr. E. 
said he would venture to say that few men had exerted a 
wider influence over the deliberations of the American 
Senate, for the length of time that he remained there^ 
than Dr. Linn. He was a poet as well as a statesman ; 
his character became national, and he was not only re- 
spected but beloved by all who knew him. He was twice 



APPENDIX. 423 

elected to tlie Senate, and almost without opposition. 
Whilst there, and up to the day of his death, his energies 
and best efforts, in the vigor and prime of manhood, were 
devoted to the promotion of the interests of the people 
who had thus honored him. He was loyal and faithful to 
Missouri ; he was alive to every thing that concerned her 
honor, her prosperity and her glory, and the National stat- 
ute book abounds with many acts, of which he was the 
author, and intended to promote our advancement. 

It is appropriate, on this occasion, to mention at least 
one of those acts. I refer to that by which the Platte 
purchase was attached to our State. Without doing in- 
justice to the honorable efforts of others, he might be per- 
mitted to say, that we were more indebted to Dr. Linn 
and Gen. Ashley for this beautiful addition to our State, 
than to any other persons. And Mr. R. said if this was 
all, it was sufficient of itself to entitle him to the lasting 
gratitude and affectionate remembrance of our people. 

Look to the Platte — the six splendid counties of the 
Platte country — the El Dorado of our State, the most 
fertile and beautiful portion of Missouri — he might say 
of the Mississippi Valley — he might say of the Union ; a 
land flowing with milk and honey, as rich as the valley of 
the Nile, and as charming to the vision as that which 
opened upon the sight of Moses, when he beheld the 
bright and lovely heritage which God had given him. 
For this addition to our State, now filled with a rich, in- 
telhgent, and powerful peoi:>le, we are chiefly indebted to 
the active zeal and devoted patriotism of Lewis F. Linn ! 
And now we are asked, through his warm personal fiicnd, 
whilst he lived, (Mr. Bogy,) to make a small appropriation 
out of the overflowing treasury of this same people, whom 
it so much delighted him to serve, to be expended to pro- 
tect from the rude decay of time the chaste and beautiful 



424 APPENDIX. 

monument, erected by the hand of taste, and which marks 
the spot that contains his ashes. Sir, let the bill pass, 
and let there be no dissenting voice ! 

One other remark, Mr. K. said, and he was done. We 
are too careless and indifferent in treasuring the memory 
of our departed statesmen — those who aided in laying the 
foundations of society on this great river, and to whom we 
are indebted for the very State government under which 
we live, and have grown and prospered. 

" Forget not the faithful dead " is a holy and pious 
sentiment, which should be dee|)ly engraven upon the 
heart of every cultivated people ; and it is as much by 
the observance of its sacred injunction, that we ourselves 
will be remembered and honored hereafter, as by the phys- 
ical improvement of our country, and the building of it 
up, in all the arts of civilized life. What steps have we 
as yet taken to rescue from the deep sea of oblivion, the 
great deeds of the early pioneers of our State ? Where is 
the Historical Society of Missouri ? and where are the 
monuments which a grateful people have raised to perpet- 
uate the noble deeds of the Boones, the Callaways, the 
Coopers, the Bartons, the Clarks, the Ashleys and the 
Millers of our State ? These men have passed from the 
stage of action, 

" And memory o'er their tombs no trophies raise." 

Sir, this should not be. And in passing the bill intro- 
duced by my friend from St. Genevieve, reviving as it does 
a recollection of the virtues of the lamented Linn, let a 
kindlier patriotism animate our breasts, that at no distant 
day we may discharge the heavy debt of gratitude due to 
the memory and character of other departed pioneers and 
statesmen. 



APPENDIX. 425 

Baltimore, Oct. 21s#, 1843. 

My beloved Friend, — AVould that it were in my 
power to offer consolation, that would reach the heart of 
one so deeply afflicted ; hut, my very dear friend, at the 
present moment I feel convinced that words were hut 
mockery, and human sympathy vain, in view of your he- 
reavement. 

Most sincerely do I mourn with you the irreparahle 
loss that you have sustained. The chasm has not been 
confined to your own bosom ; the whole community feel 
the void that death has made, in remo\dng from society 
the example of one so highly gifted in all the associations 
of public and private life ; many, many hearts sympathize 
with you at this moment, but alas ! the wound is too re- 
cent to admit of present tranquillity ; the lacerated heart 
feels the insufficiency of human aid. 

But, my loved friend, when the fount of earthly com- 
fort fails and every stream is dry, we know that there is a 
still higher source, an inexhaustible fount of consolation 
in the love of Jesus. Yes, I am assured that you have 
often applied to that source, and from sweet experience 
can testify to the efficacy of its healing power. " The 
fountain of living waters, which if any man drinks there- 
of, he shall thirst no more for ever." 

I do most fervently recommend my beloved friend unto 
Him, in whose hands are the issues of life, unto our all- 
sufficient God and Saviour, who alone can dry the falling 
tear, and soothe the lacerated bosom. 

Oh ! may the Sun of righteousness arise, with healing 
on his wings, and illumine this dark dispensation of his 
Providence ; as with a ray of light drawn from the fount 
of love, impress upon the wounded heart resignation to 
the will of Grod. 

Oh ! my dearest friend, what a blessed hope is the 



426 APPENDIX. 

Christian's ; to be enabled to look beyond this fleeting 
scene, and triumph over death and the grave ; even from 
this valley of tears and mortal suifering, to behold eternal 
life, our own unmingled bliss for evermore in the presence 
of our God. Could we but fully realize this glorious pros- 
pect, oh ! how greatly would it tend to reconcile us to 
our present warfare ; we should then be enabled to place 
a proper estimate upon the transitory things of time and 
sense, and be more occupied in laying up the imperishable 
riches of eternal life ; we should even, with the Apostle 
Paul, " be willing to rejoice amid tribulation, believing in 
the sanctifying influence of its effects upon the heart." 

But it is not for me to teach you these spiritual 
truths, so precious to the Christian, so consoling to the 
mourner. 

Present me very afiectionately to dear Mary and Au- 
gustus. I trust that they may be ever found walking in 
the footsteps of their exalted father, reflecting the hght 
of his many eminent virtues, beloved and usefid members 
of society. They have indeed a rich patrimony to boast 
of, in the unblemished character of their honored father, 
— rich in every virtue that could adorn the man and the 
Christian. 

How is your health at present, my dear Mrs. Linn ? I 
hope it may not suffer under your many trials. You have 
a great deal to live for, and every exertion will be neces- 
sary on your part ; for the sake of your precious children, 
you will have to exert every energy of your gifted mind. 
You will have to recollect also that you are now their all 
in all as regards earthly prospects ; this consideration will 
strengthen you to bear up your fortitude, so that they 
sink not. Dear Mary is now of an age that requires all 
your attention, all your fond solicitation. Youth, beauty, 
and innocence require a guide, a mother's fostering care ; 



APPENDIX. 427 

and Augustus — what could he do without you ? And 
your friends that love you dearly. Dearest Mrs. Linn, re- 
flect uj)on all this, and endeavor to preserve your health 
for all our sakes. 

I hope Augustus has entirely recovered ere this — a 
present comfort near you. May God preserve and bless 
you all, and prove to you a help in time of need, prays 
your devoted friend, 

Jacqueline S. Pendleton. 

P. S. — And now, my dear friend, permit me to offer 
you my society, any time this winter, if it can be of the 
least gratification to you. 

I shall await your wishes, and fly to your loved pres- 
ence immediately, if my suggestion claims your approval ; 
for language would be inadequate to express the gratitude 
I should exi)erience in being the shghtest comfort to you. 
Any way that I can serve you, command me, and be as- 
sured, dearest lady, my love is deep and lasting. 

J. S. P. 



St. Louis, Oct. ISth, 1843. 
Mrs. Elizabeth A. K. Linn, 

My dear Madam, — In tliis season of deep affliction, 
my own feelings of personal friendship for yourself and 
family, as well as my duty to you as your pastor and spir- 
itual guide, induces me to present my sympathy and some 
effort to aid in your consolation and support. The infor- 
mation of your husband's death fell, even upon us, as a 
sudden bolt from heaven, that we could hardly believe. 
And how much more severely must it have fallen upon a 
tenderly attached wife, and fond children. The circum- 



428 APPENDIX. 

stances are of a peculiarly painful kind, under which we 
learn he departed, with no previous warning to excite ap- 
prehension in your minds, and gradually prepare you for 
the loss you were to sustain ; not to be with him in the 
last expiring struggle, to speak, to hear his voice, to say 
farewell, or even while the spirit yet remained to lay your 
hand upon his brow. These are severe trials to the affec- 
tionate heart. But then, we must not look at the painful 
things alone. Sudden death, if we are prepared, is not 
in itself to he lamented. The suffering cannot he great, 
seeing it is one expiring effort and the cord is loosed. 
Better than the days and weeks of protracted anguish, 
which we are called often to witness without the ability to 
relieve. The spirit has been called into another part of 
the region governed by the same eternal king. I trust 
you are able from the knowledge of his inward workings 
to find evidence on which to hope, if not confidently be- 
lieve that, though full of sin, he rested on the friend of 
sinners, who saves even to the uttermost, and now dwells 
with him. My lack of opportunity to know his mind 
prevents my aiding you in feference to this. I only know 
that the j^lan of salvation he understood, and well knew 
from whence deliverance must come. 

But you feel that you are left with your orphans alone ; 
a cold, bleak world, which no sun can ever thaw or warm 
and clothe with flowers and verdure again, is all your mind 
rests on here. But sorrow blears our mental vision, and 
we are unable to see in its extremity the good that re- 
mains. Your children are here, and drawn the nearer be- 
cause you are all of their parents left ; your friends, those 
really so, will not be driven off but drawn the nearer by 
your trials. The Saviour has not died or departed ; he 
who mingled his tears Avith those of Martha and Mary, 
when they wept over the untimely grave of a dear brother, 



APPENDIX. 429 

is here to weep with you. There is no tear you shed he 
does not see, no ache of your heart he does not know ; al- 
though exalted he is still accessihle and is still unchanged. 
He counts the sighs of his children, and when their spirits 
are overwhelmed within them, he knows their path and 
adjusts the time and measure of their trials, with the same 
precision that he weighed the mountains in scales aod hills 
in a balance, and meted out the heavens with a span. 
There is no tenderness like to that which God exercises 
toward his children, more than the compassion of a mother 
for her sucking child. Then, dear madam, carry to him 
your sorrows, those which you can't express to friends, 
that words fail to convey,, with the assurance that he un- 
derstands them all and sympathizes with you. If these 
trials thus draw you nearer to the great comforter, you 
will yet rejoice with David that you have been afflicted. 

There are great blessings in affliction. The greater 
part of the promises in the Bible are directed to those 
who are afflicted. These, in our prosperity, remain shut 
u]) ; we know them, and believe they are true, but cannot 
realize tliem in all their falness and sweetness till afflic- 
tion comes. The Lord says, " CaU upon me in the day 
of trouble, and I will deliver." That is a city of refuge, 
shut up, until the hour of our calamity comes, but then 
we flee to it, and God is our God because we are in trou- 
ble. We are but pilgrims and strangers here, yet we grow 
fast to this earth, and forget that city whose maker and 
builder is God. Yet we must soon remove, and hence the 
trials sent seem to be to undermine the foundation we are 
so prone to lay here. Had Israel been in prosperity 
when Moses and Aaron came to them to tell them of Canaan, 
they would never have consented to go out of Egypt with 
him ; but he prepared them by bondage and cruel oppres- 
sion, weaning them from the land they inhabited, and mak- 



430 APPENDIX. 

ing them willing to be gone. Thus God here reduces our 
comforts, cuts our ties, and prepares us for our removal to 
that city that hath foundations. 

May the Lord abundantly bless, and console and sanc- 
tify you, that you may greatly rejoice in him here, and 
with those you love be happy in his presence for ever. 
Please present my love to your good mother if with you, 
and to the children. 

With much aifection, 

Your pastor, 

William S. Potts. 



My own dear Friend, — It is with truest sorrow, 
that we have heard the melancholy intelligence of the 
death of Dr. Linn. Believe me nothing could have occa- 
sioned deeper feeling with me, not only in reference to the 
long and sincere friendship which has existed between us, 
but more especially on account of the deep poignancy, 
which must have been reflected t)n a heart like yours, at 
the loss of one so truly excellent and in all the pride of 
honored worth. I know from my own sad experience, that 
our grief may be such as to incline us to shrink, even 
from the approach of friendship, and I know, too, that 
there is but little power in human consolation to mitigate 
the anguish of so hard a trial. May He, who in his inscru- 
table providence has thus afflicted, support and console 
you. The consolations of religion, and the healing influ- 
ence of time, can alone soothe the bereaved and heart- 
stricken mourner. My thoughts have been much with 
you, dear Mrs. Linn, and with those thoughts there have 
mingled bright memories of other days, when we were all 
so happy together in Washington. My own blessed home, 



APPENDIX. 431 

in which we found those abundant measures of hajipiness, 
which are looked for in vain elsewhere. Death made an 
inroad on them. My beloved incomparable brother, and 
then my precious father were taken from me. My heart 
rebelled and I asked, why was the angel of death sent, to 
change our happy home into a house of mourning ? I 
did not know then, nor do I now, but there is one who 
does know ; whose will I dare not question, any more than 
I can question his infinite goodness and mercy to us all. 
My dear mother's health continues very infirm ; she is still 
a helpless invalid, whose only change of place is from her 
bed to " the old arm chair." It is now almost three 
years since she was first attacked, and the origin of all 
her sickness was the shock upon her nerves, occasioned 
by the sudden death of my father. I do not think that 
she is any worse within the last six months, although her 
physicians will not say that there has been any real change 
for the better ; and yet there are sometimes whole days in 
succession, when she will appear so much recovered that 
our hopes and spirits rise in proportion, and we think she 
must be getting well again. She is now an absorbing in- 
terest with us all, and every little arrangement in our way 
of life depends upon her daily health, which varies more 
or less, as time rolls on. No murmur escapes her lips ; 
she is the most patient and resigned spirit that ever lived, 
and we have a consolation above all this world can offer 
in her entire resignation to the divine will, and perfect as- 
surance of a happy immortality, when she shall be sum- 
moned to bid a last farewell to all human sorrow. I am 
now writing in her room, and she bids me say, how deeply 
she mourns with you in this sudden bereavement of him, 
for whom we have always felt the strongest regard. The 
scene of your first distress is constantly before me, and I 



432 APPENDIX. 

have wished that I could be with you, to soothe in some 
measure by my symj)athy your heart's grief. 

My mother and sisters unite with me in tenderest love 
to you and Mary. Pray write to me, whenever you feel 
sufficiently composed to do so, and always, my dear 
Mrs. Linn, believe me, very truly and affectionately. 
Your friend. 



Elizabeth Kane. 



New York, Nov. 1st, 1843. 



From a lady, who was a great belle in the days of Gen. 
Washington, and often graced his drawing-room while he 
was President. 

Cumberland, Alleghany County, Maryland, ) 

October, 23d. 1843. j 

My dear, dear Friend, — I will no longer withhold 
from you the expression of the deep sorrow that has so 
unexpectedly overtaken me. I should have done it long 
since, but the fear of aggravating and opening wounds I 
want to heal. Tliis very day, if seventy winters had not 
beat upon my head, I would fly to you, you have ever felt 
like a daughter to me, and am I never to see her more 
and hear her sweet voice and converse. Although our 
acquaintance was made in Washington, where there is so 
little real friendship. The disparity too in our years. Yet 
we met in each other those indescribable requisites that 
formed the basis and union of affection, that neither dis- 
tance nor time can lessen. Oh, how can I name him, who 
was the first connecting link to our happiness with each 
other. I was counting the days when I might expect him, 
I am sure he told you of the interesting interview we had ; 
our parting was more like, an own mother with her son ; he 



APPENDIX. 433 

took me in his arms^ embraced me, and we invoked God to 
bless each other : little did I dream it was for the last time 
I felt contending emotions ; there was a sadness, a feel- 
ing I could not account for, when my tears flowed so un- 
bidden before the distinguished friends he brought with him, 
to see his favorite relative, as he termed me. Could you 
be invisible, and see me seated between the pictures of our 
departed husbands ; they seem to smile upon me, and if 
they could speak I know would chide me for the vain 
tears I shed. This sad intelligence was conveyed to me 
on Sunday week coming out of church ; my children and 
friends, as they collect any further particulars from tlie 
papers, send them to- me, but as yet they are unsatisfac- 
tory, I cannot ask you to give me the melancholy partic- 
ulars, but will you get some friend to do it for you. I 
was going to write to my friend General Dodge, but on 
reflection remembered he was in Iowa. 

I have kept all his letters to me, even the envelopes. 
The pen I hold in my hand was given me by him ; I should 
like to have one of those dear curls, if ever so small. But 
I am wrong ; I only add to your distress. 

Now, let me entreat you to live for your sweet Mary 
and your noble Augustus. Be re(5onciled to the will of 
our heavenly Father. He will be your comforter amid the 
fiery trials that are about your path. Time, I know from 
experience, will do much for you. I was just having a 
beautiful i)air of thread mitts ready for you and sweet 
Mary when you came. Pray, my dearest Mrs. Linn, ex- 
cuse all inaccuracies in these sad pages ; they have cost me 
many tears. I feel assured many of your good friends 
from every direction have flown to you ; I feel as if I must 
embrace you — but to mention even my wish to go to you 
my children would think me crazy. I must say farewell, 
oh, farewell for ever I fear, Mary Lynn. 

19 



434 APPENDIX. 

Just as I was about sealing my letter, the servant 
brought me your sweet communication ; alas, a bitter sweet, 
but oh, it is sweet to know that in the saddest hour of dis- 
tress, you thought of your aged far distant friend. I see 
your dear brother has franked it. I knew he would fly to 
you, and that dear mother. Oh, try and be comforted, — 
how many are left destitute ! As you have known many 
in Missouri, I am sure, yes, and your house was their home, 
you and your children will be followed by their prayers. 
I can add no more. 

M. Lynn. 



PmLADELPHiA, Octohev nth, 1843. 

My deakest Aunt, — The mournful intelligence of 
the death of my beloved Uncle Lewis has just reached me. 
I seek to offer no consolation for a calamity so distressing ; 
but I claim the right of mourning with you and my dear 
cousins. Language, at least as I could use it, would fall 
short of portraying the agony I feel on this occasion. I 
am called upon by the ties of kindred to mourn for one 
who has watched over me in sickness and distress ; who 
has rejoiced with my joy and sympathized with my sor- 
rows ; who, when my spirits have been almost broken, has 
cheered me on and pointed out the correct path ; wlio has 
always been kind, and whose assistance I have so eifectu- 
ally felt. 

Last spring a fine son was added to my fortunes, whom 
I called Lewis Linn. Of this he knew nothing, and I 
hoped to meet you all this winter and present his name- 
sake. — Heaven ! how vain are mortal wishes ! and the 
presence of my boy is but the remembrance of distress. 

My dear Aunt, I cannot but trust that our Almighty 



APPENDIX. 435 

Father, in dei^riving you of a beloved husband, has armed 
you with a fortitude supporting the affliction. Let us re- 
member that we are in His hands, creatures of His will, 
and it becomes us to bow in humility to His mandates. 

It would be a melancholy satisfaction to be informed 
as to how he died, and what the particulars of the case 
were, for I have seen nothing but newspaper jiaragraphs. 

I will write you again very soon. Please give my love 
to my dear cousins Augustus and Mary ; and may God 
in heaven bless you, my dear Aunt, is the sincere prayer of 

Your most affectionate Nephew, 

Wm. p. McAnthony. 
Mrs. E. A. Linn, ) 
St. Genevieve, Mo. \ 



"WiiEEiJNO, Sunday, October loth, 1843. 

My dear Madam, — How solemn and impressive is 
the lesson we are tau";lit bv the sad tidino;s announced so 
feelingly in your respected brother's letter of the 5th to 
your Uncle Joseph I Truly, " In the midst of life we are 
in death." 

Little did I imagine a few days ago, when addressing 
you, and communicating the fact that death's messenger 
had visited my little family, that so soon, so very soon, 
you Avould be called upon to sustain the severest bereave- 
ment which an all- wise, but all-merciful Creator can in- 
flict upon the creature. 

I know how little words (which would tend to soothe 
and comfort under an ordinary bereavement) will avail 
in expressing the deep symi^athy I feel for you in your 
affliction, and how slight their influence will be in 
ameliorating the anguish you must suffer under this dis- 
pensation of a Good Providence ; and yet, in His infinitely 



436 APPENDIX. 

wise ordering, the very traits in tlie character of your la- 
mented husband, which make your loss so irreparable, fur- 
nish some consolation. The elevation of his character, the 
purity and consistency of his life, the delightful amiability 
wliich characterized his intercourse with his fellow-men, 
heightened in an eminent degree in intercourse with each 
and every member of his family, cannot fail to exert a 
soothing influence. 

In shedding tears to his memory, you necessarily 
cherish a lively recollection of his virtues. Thus an over- 
ruling Providence makes the afflictions with which he 
visits his creatures furnish to some extent an alleviation. 

Death, in taking from us those we love, seems to pre- 
pare the way for an easy transit from this world of care. 
Each messenger from him lessens our ties to earth, and 
strengthens those for eternity. They have gone before — 
we prepare to follow after. Such is doubtless the inten- 
tion of the Great Ruler ; and, in bowing with humble sub- 
mission to his will, we will be strengthened and prepared 
for the great change which awaits us all. 

Accept, my dear Mrs. Linn, my most sincere condo- 
lence in the affliction which you have suffered. That you 
may be supported in the bereavement you have sustained 
by Him who has promised to be a comforter in every time 
of need, that blessings may be bestowed upon yourself and 
your children ; that the same delightful harmony, so hap- 
pily subsisting between you and your departed husband, 
may characterize your and their relations with each other, 
is the anxious desire, the sincerest wish of your friend, 

S. Brady. 

Mrs. Linn. 

Please remember me kindly to your mother. We are 
all well at present. 



APPENDIX. 437 

WuEELiN-G, October 11 tk, 1843. 
The intelligence of your heart-rending bereavement 
has just reached me. Oh ! my dear coz, how deeply and 
truly do I sympathize with you ! yet none but those that 
have felt the anguish of a widowed heart, can know how 
little consolation the sympathy of friends affords us in so 
trying an hour. It is then, and only then, we feel our 
own insignificance. How thy hand humbles, death ! 
and nothing short of the omniscient power that wields the 
mighty scej)tre can heal the wound it inflicts. It was to 
God alone, my dear Elizabeth, that I looked for comfort, 
and it is to his almighty goodness and mercy I recom- 
mend you to look for help and succor. But I presume this 
you know yourself ; and if the sympathy of friends can 
afford you any comfort, I can assure you that you have it. 
I am at a loss to know what to say on the melancholy 
subject. To enumerate the many manly virtues of your be- 
loved husband, and to remind you of the deep hold he had 
on the hearts of all that knew him, would only aggravate 
your feelings ; for the greater his merits, the greater your 
loss. I hope you will try and bear it with fortitude, for 
your dear children's sake. They, and your mother, and 
brother, will constitute your only earthly comforts ; and 
for them let me conjure you to bear up and struggle against 
any inordinate indulgence of grief It was a long time 
before I could bring my mind to say, " It is the Lord, and 
let his will be done." Our troubles and afflictions in this 
world have induced me to believe that the Almighty, 
through love and mercy, takes those who are his especial 
favorites out of it, and that it is sinful for us to wish them 
to remain. I can see almost daily his tender mercy in 
withdrawing my dear husband to himself. He was too 
pure and sensitive to struggle with a cold, unfeeling world, 
and never could have survived the many inconveniences 



438 APPENDIX. 

and mortifications that he would have had to encounter in 
settling his affairs ; and you cannot perhaps now see why 
it was that He thought proper to separate you and your 
dear companion, who have ever been so happy ; yet the 
time, I believe, will come when you will think it was for 
the best. 

I have been afflicted with a weakness for nearly three 
months, that has confined me to the house, and a great 
part of the time to bed, and I am now but very little 
better. You will therefore excuse my poor attempt at 
offering you any thing like comfort, as I feel my perfect 
inability to do so ; and I have, moreover, had a trying 
time in parting with my two daughters and my son-in- 
law. They left here a few days since for their residence 
in Mississij)i)i. Sophy accompanied Mr. Stanton and 
Jane, and it seems to me " the glory of my house hath de- 
parted," and I feel almost as wretched as if I'd have 
buried them. They will, however, return next summer. 

Mr. and Mrs. Steenrod have lost their babe ; it was 
about three months old when it died. Mrs. S. intends 
going on with Mr. S., as she has nothing now to keep her 
at home. Your friends are all well except Aunt Eliza. 
She is very feeble and has a bad cough, and I understood 
to-day that she was confined to bed. Mary Brady has 
lost her little son. Bolton Caldwell and Phebe Pearce 
left here last week for Vicksburg. Bolton improved very 
much whilst here ; he was a perfect skeleton when he ar- 
rived. Cousin Jemmy is now in St. Louis ; also Caroline's 
husband, Mr. Wilson, has gone there to hunt a home. 
Cousin Lizzy Caldwell was in from Zanesville, and spent 
a few weeks in the summer with us ; she looks very well. 
Her father. Judge Harper, has just been elected to Con- 
gress. Aunt Fanny is enjoying her usual health. Cousin 
John and Mary were here a few evenings since in pretty 



APPENDIX. 439 

good health, and spoke of you in the most feeling manner. 
They are truly a worthy couple. To my dear Aunt give 
my most affectionate rememTjrance, and say, she will never 
be forgotten by us. Her name will be reverenced, and her 
memory fondly cherished, by me and my children, when 
time with her shall be no more. My love to your brother 
and your dear children. I shudder when I think of your 
son's narrow escape from the jaws of death, and how doubly 
you might have been afflicted — therefore be comforted, and 
still think that the Almighty has been merciful. 

Yours affectionately, 

E. M. Chapline. 

Write me as soon as you feel sufficiently composed to 
do so, for I shall be anxious until I hear from you. 



Cincinnati, Oct. 20ih, 1843. 
My dear Cousin, — We were extremely shocked to 
liear of the irreparable loss you have sustained — at all 
times and under all circumstances the Dr.'s death would 
have been most afflictive to you — but occurring so sudden- 
ly as it did, renders it doubly severe. I am not able to 
offer you any consolation, for well I know none can give 
any comfort ; the bereaved heart will mourn and refuse to 
be comforted ; it is to time alone we must look to assuage 
our grief Death has indeed visited your dwelling in an 
awful manner, but you have the consolation of being able 
to think, although the summons was sudden, that he was 
prepared to exchange this world for the next, wliere he is 
rejoicing in the presence of God the Saviour, and entirely 
exempt from all the sufferings of this life. Call to mind 
his deep grief at the death of your daughter Jane, and 



440 APPENDIX. 

feel comfort in the reflection that he is never to experience 
the like again, I think it is only such reflections that 
can soothe us ; if we suffer ourselves to dwell on our own 
loss, we are agonized. You have two promising children 
left you, who can weep and lament with you, share all 
your grief, and be to you your only source of comfort. 
May they be spared to be a blessing to you, the solace of 
your declining years. 

When you are recovered from the first severe shock, I 
would, my dear cousin, be gratified to hear from you the 
particulars of your dear husband's death, and how you 
and Mary are. I presume you will have many friends to 
condole with you ; but none feel more deeply for you than 
I do. Mr, Neave begs me to assure you of his deep sym- 
pathy and personal interest in whatever concerns you. 
Give my love to Augustus and Mary, and also to Aunt if 
she is with you. 

Believe me, your attached cousin, 

Jane E. Neave. 



Kaskaskia, Oct. 5th, 1843. 

My dear Madam, — I heard yesterday, on my arrival 
at this place, of the death of my much esteemed friend. 
Dr. Linn. I desire most sincerely to condole with you in 
your heavy affliction. His loss is a great one, not only to 
his friends, but to the nation in whose councils he occu- 
pied so distinguished a place. 

I had made my arrangements to have a j^ersonal in- 
terview with him on tliis day, but on yesterday the sad 
news reached me of his sudden and untimely death. He 



APPENDIX. 441 

had attained high honors, and achieved the object of his 
ambition, but it availed not. 

" Or come he slow, or come he fast, 
It is but Death that comes at last." 

I hope you bear the affliction as you should, consoled 
as you should be by the consciousness that you have the 
sympathies of many. 

With high regard, your friend, and obedient, 

Sidney Breese. 



D. APPLETOX & COMPANY'S 



Should it be impossible to procure any of the Books on this List, they will be for- 
warded by the Publishers to any address in the UniUd States, post-paid, on 
7-eceipt of the price affixed. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Acton; or the Circle of liife. 
12ino Cloth, 1 25 

AKiiilnr (;. ThcMotbcr'.*! Kc- 
coiiipcnHe. 12mo Cloth, 75 

Women of iNriiel. 



2 vols. 121110 Cloth, 1 50 

Vnle of CcdarH. 



12mo ClotD, 



ship. 



Woninn'^ Fricnd- 

12mo Cloth, 



• The Days of 



Bruce. 12uio. 2 vols. . ..Cloth, 1 50 



-Home Scenes nnil 



Ilenrt StiiilicM. 12mo.. .Cloth, 75 

The above In uniform 

Rets, 8 vols extra cloth, 6 00 

? vols half calf, 13 00 

ANop's Clinrm** of Fancy. A 

Poem in Four Cantos. 12mo. 

Cloth, 1 00 

Amelin'8 Poems. 1 vol. 12nio. 

Cloth, 1 25 
Gilt edges, 1 50 

AnnaliU (The) of San Francis- 
co. By F. Soirit', J. n. Gihon, 
mvX J. Nisbet. lllust with 150 en- 
gravings, and many fine portraits. 

1 vol. Svo Cloth, 3 50 

or in roan, marble edges, 4 00 
or in half c-ilf extra, 4 50 

AgnelN Book of C'besN. A 
Complete Guide to the Game. 
With illustrations by R. W. Weir. 
12mo Cloth, 1 00 



Aii(IerNon'!« Practical Uler- 

cnntile I.ctler. Writer. 12mo. 1 00 
Arnold, Dr. Historj of Rome. 

1 ^"'- 8vo Cloth, 3 00 

Half calf. 4 00 



" Lectures on Mod 

eni History. Edited by Prof. 
Eeed. 12mo Cloth, 1 25 

Arthur. Tlie .Successful :>Ier- 
chnnt. 12m.. cloth, 75 

Appletons' Cycloprcdin of 
liioKDipliy, Farei;;n and 
Amcricnii. Edited by the Kev. 
Dr. llawlcs. 1 handsome vol. royal 
Svo., with over 600 engravings 

Cloth, 4 00 

Or in sheep, 4 50 

In half calf or in half nior., 5 00 

Full calf, 6 00 



■Library :>InniiinI. 



8™ Halfbound, 1 25 



New Railway «fc 

Steam Naviju-aiion (;uide. 

Published Monthly, under the 
supervision of the Railway Com- 
panies. 16mo Paper, 

Travellers' ( ; u ide 

throu;;h the ( iiiled Sl.nc^. 
and Cnnadas. Describing all 
tbe Important Places, their His- 
torical Associations, &c. The whole 
accompanied by Routes of Travel, 
&c. 1vol. 12mo 

New General Cai- 

alojE;ue. 8vo. pp. 242. Paper. 



25 



25 



^. gippldoit & Conipang's |3nbIi£ation8. 



mSCELIANEOUS-Continued. 



Atlas. 
Atlas 

Maps. 



Appletons' iUoiiern 
of tin? Earth, on 34 

Colored. Eojal Svo. 
Half bound, 



3 50 



Cornell's New General 

Atlas. 1 handsome vol. 4to 1 00 

Attache (The) in 3Iadricl ; or 
Sketches of the Court of 
Isabella II. 1 vol. 12nio 100 

Baldwin's Flush Times in 
I>Iississipiii and Alabama. 

12mo. migrated 1 26 

Party Leaders. 

12U10 Cloth, 1 00 

Barker (Jacob) Incidents in 
the Life of. Svo. 2 portraits. 

Cloth, 1 00 

Barth's Travels in Africa. 

(in press.) 

Bartlett. Personal NarratiTe 

of Explorations in Texas, 

New Mexico, California, 

&:c. &c. Maps and Illustrations. 

2 voIs..8vo 4 00 

Bartlett. The same, in half calf 

extra 7 00 

The same, in full calf 

extra 8 00 

The same, cheap edition, 

in 1 vol., bound 3 50 

Basil. A .Story of 3Iodern 
Ijife. By W. Wllkie Collins. 

12uio Cloth, 75 

Benton's Thirty Year.s' View ; 
or a History of the Work- 
ing or the American Govern- 
ment for thirty years, from 
IS-iO to 1850. 2 very large 
vols., Svo. pp. 1527, well printed. 

Cloth, 5 00 

Sheep, 6 00 

In half calf or half uior., 7 00 

In full calf, 8 00 

Abridgment of the Debates of 
Congress, from 17S9 to 
1S56. From Gales and Seaton's 
Annals of Congress; from their Re- 



gister of Debates ; and from the 
Official Reported Debates, b)' John 
C. Rives. By the Author of '• The 
'•Thirty Years' View." Vol. I. (to 
be in 15) preparing. Price per vol. '■ 

Beyminstre. By the author of 
" Len.T." 1 vol. (in press) 

Bridgman's, The Pilgrims of 
Boston and their Descend- 
ants. 1 large vol., Svo Cloth, 

Butler's Philosophy of the 
Weather, and a Gnide to its 
Changes. 12mo Cloth 

Brace's Fawn of the Pale 
Faces. 12mo Cloth, 

Brownell's Poems. 12mo. 

Boards, 



00 



■ Ephemcron ; a 

Poem. 12nio Paper, 

Bryant's Poems. New edition, 

revised throughout. 2 vols. 12mo. 

Cloth, 2 

jixtra cloth, gilt edges, 2 

Morocco, antique or extra 6 

Half morocco, gilt, 4 

Half calf, antique or e.xtra, 4 

Full calf, antique or extra, 5 

" Inlvol. ISmo Cloth, 

Gilt edges. 
Antique morocco, 2 

Bryant's What I Saw in Cal- 
ifornia. With Map. 12mo. 

Bnrnett's Notes on the North- 
Western Territory. Svo. 

Cloth, 2 

Bnrton's Encyclopa;dia of 
Wit and Iluiuour. Illustrated. 
1 large vol. Svo. (In press.) 

Calhonn (J. €.) The Works of 

(now first collected). 6 vols. Svo. 
per vol 2 

Sold sep.arately: 

Vol. 1. ON GOVERNMENT. 

2. REPORTS & LETTERS. 

3, 4. SPEECHES. 

5, 6. REPORTS & LETTERS. 
Or, sets in 6 vols, half calf, 20 
'• full calf, 24 



3 00 

1 00 

75 
75 

26 



00 
60 
00 
00 
00 
00 
63 
75 
2 00 

1 25 



00 



00 



00 
00 



§. ^pplctott & Compam/s ^ablixatioits. 



MISCELLANEOTJS— Contianed. 



Captain f'nnot ; or, iweiity 
Years of a f<Iavcr's I^ife. 

Edited by Brantz Mayer. 1 vol. 
121110. Illustrated. ... Cloth, 1 25 

Cliapinan's rnstriictions to 
Yoiiii^ 3Iark«.iiH'n on tlie 
Improved American llille. 

1 6mo. Illustrated Cloth, 1 25 

CliCNtiiiit Wood. A Tale. By 
I.iele Linden. 2 vols. r2mo... Cloth, 1 75 

Clark, T.. U. Knick-knacks 
from an Kditor's Table. 

12ino. Illui-tratod 1 25 

Clarke (3Irs. Cowden). The 
Iron Coiiwiii. A Tale. 1 vol. 
12ino Cloth, 1 25 

Cockbnrn's (Lord) I>leniorinls 
of His Time. 1 thick, vol. 12iiio. 
Beautifully printed Cloth, 1 25 

Cooler, A. J. The Hook of 
Useful Knowledge. Contain- 
ing 6,000 Practical Keceipts in all 
branches of Arts, Manu'actures, 
and Trades. Svo. Illustrated. 

Bound, 1 25 

Coil. Dr. IIi*itory of I'liri- 
lanism. 12mf Ch)th, 1 00 

Coleridge's Poems.. 1 neat vol. 

12mo Cloth, 1 00 

Gilt edges, 1 60 
Morocco antiq'-ie, or extra, 3 50 

Coining's Preservation of 
Health and Prevention of 
Disease. 12nao 75 

Cornwall, >'. E. I>Iusic as It 
Was, and as It Is. 12nio. 

Cloth, 63 

Cousin's Course of 3Iodern 
Philosophy. Translated by 

Wight. 2vois. 8io Cloth, 3 00 

Half calf, 5 00 
Full calf, 6 00 

Cousin^s Philosophy of the 
Iteantiful. 16uio Cloth, 62 



Cousin's Lectures ou the 
True, the Beautiful, and the 
Good. Translated by Wight. Svo. 

Cloth, 1 50 
Half calf, 2 50 
Full calf, 3 00 



The Youth of illadanie 

De Longneville. 1 vol. 
12mo Cloth, 1 GO 

Cowper's Homer's Iliad. Re- 
vised by S?uthey, with Notes by 

Dwight. 1 vol Cloth, 1 25 

Gilt edges, 1 50 
Antique or extra morocco, 4 00 

Cr«'asy (Prof.) l{ise and Pro- 
{fress of the ICnglish Cou- 
Mlitiition. 1 vol 1 00 

Croswell. A !>Ienioir of the 
Itev. W. Croswell, D.I). 1 
vol. Svo Cloth, 2 00 

Ciist (I.ady.) The Invalid's 
Uwn Hook. 12mo Cloth, 50 

D'Abrantes (Duchess.) Me- 
moirs of Napoleon, his Court 
and l''amily. 2 large vols. Svo. 
Portraits Cloth, 4 00 

The same, in 

half calf extra or antique 7 00 

The same, In 

full calf extra or antique 8 00 

Dc Boiv's Industrial Kc- 
sources. Statistics, i&c., of 
the Cuited States. Svo. Svols. 
bound In 1 vol Cloth, 5 00 

Dc Cu8tine'8 Russia. Trans, 
from the French. Thick 12mo. 

Cloth, 1 25 

Dew's Digest of Ancient and 
.Modern History. Svo. Cloth, 2 00 

Don ()nixote de La ]>Innehn. 

Translated from the Spanish. Il- 
lustrated with engravings. Svo. 

Cloth. 2 00 
Half calf, 3 00 
Full calf, 4 00 



g. gijiplclon & Compang's ^kblkalions. 



MISCELLANEOUS— Continued. 



Driiry, A. II. IJglit aiul 
.Shade ; or, the Young Art- 
ist. 12mo Clott, 



75 



63 



Dix's 'Winter in I>Indeira, and 
. .Summer in Spain, &c. 12mo. 
Illustrated Clotb, 1 00 

Diimari (Alex.) The Foresters. 
A Tale. 12mo Clotb, 75 

Philibert ; or, 

the European Wars of the 
16lh Century. 12mo. . . . Cloth, 1 25 

Diimont's Liife Sketches from 
Couimon Paths. A Series of 
American Tales. 12mo Cloth, 1 00 

Dupuy, A. E. The Conspir- 
ator. 12mo Cloth, 75 

Dwigljt's Introduction to the 
Study of Art. 12mo Cloth, 1 00 

Ellen Parry; or. Trials of 
the Hen rt. 12mo Cloth, 

Elli.s,:>lrs. Hearts «fc Homes ; 
or, S»ocial Distinctions. A 
Btorj'. Cloth, 1 50 

Evelyn's Life of Mrs. Godol- 
pliin. Edited by the Bishop of 
Oxford. 16mo Cloth, 

Ewbank. The World a Work- 
shop. 16mo Cloth, 

Fay, T. S. L'lric ; or, the 
Voices. 12mo Boards, 

Farmingdale. A Tale. By Caro- 
line Thomas. 12mo Cloth, 1 00 

French's Historical Collec- 
tions of liOiiisiana. Part III. 
gvo Cloth, 1 50 

Foote's Africa and the Amer- 
ican Flag. 1 vol. 12mo. lUust. 

Cloth, 1 50 

Fullerton, L.ady G. Lady 
Bird. 12mo Cloth, 75 

(Jarland's Life of John Ran- 
dolph. 2 vols, in 1. 8vo. Por- 
traits 1 ^ 

Half calf, 2 50 

Full calf, 8 00 



50 



75 



75 



Gibbes' Documentary His- 
tory of the American Revo- 
lution, 1781, 17S2. 1 vol. 8vo. 
Cloth, 1 



1776. 



- The same. 2d vol. 1764 to 
1 vol. Svo Cloth, 1 



Ghostly Colloquies. By the 

Author of " Letters from Rome," 
&c. 12mo Cloth, 1 

Gil Bias. Translated from the 
French by Le Sage. Illustrated 
■with over 500 spirited engravings. 

1 large vol. 8vo Extra cloth, 

Gilt edges, 3 
Half calf, 3 
Full calf, 4 

Giliillan, Geo. Gall«y of 
Literary Portraits. Second 
Series, limo Cloth, 1 

Goddard's Gleanings. Some 
Wheat— Some Chafl". 12mo. 
Cloth, 1 

Goethe's Ipliigenia in Tnuris. 

A Drama in Five Acts. Trans- 
lated from the German by C. J. 
Adler. 12mo Boards, 

Goldsmith's Vicar of Wake- 
field. 12mo. Illustrated. Cloth, 
Gilt edge-s 1 



50 
50 

00 



00 
50 
00 



00 



00 



Gore, Mrs 
P^ughter. 



The Dean's 

12mo Cloth, 

(Jould's (W. M.) Zephyrs 
from Italy and Sicily. 12mo. 
Colored plate, 1 

Grant's Memoirs of an Ameri- 
can Lady. 12mo Cloth, 

Griffith's (3Iattie) Poems. 

12mo Cloth, 

Gilt edges, 1 

Guizot's History of Civiliz- 
ation. 4 vols. 12mo Cloth, 3 

Half calf, 8 

Democracy in France. 

12mo. Paper, 



75 

75 
00 

73 

00 
75 

75 
25 

50 
00 

25 



B. gippldoit ^ Compang's |^ublkatioits. 



mSCELLANEOUS-Continued. 



Gnrowski'a Rassia As It Is. 

1 vol. 12010 Cloth, 1 00 

Ilnll, B. R. The New Piir- 
clinsc ; or, EarlyYcars in the 
Far West. Illustrated. ISino. 

Cloth, 1 25 

Harry 3Iiiir. A Scottish 

Story. 12II10 Cloth, 75 

Ilaiiiilton's Philosophy. Ar- 
ranged and Edited by O. W. 
Wight. 1 vol. Svo Cloth, 1 50 

The Same, i:i fnll calf, 3 00 

Heartsease ; or. The Brother's 
Wife. By the Author of "The 
Heir of Redclyffe." 2 vols. 12mo. 

Cloth, 1 50 

IleirofReilcIyae(The). A Tale. 
2 vols. 12nio Cloth, 1 50 

Heloisc ; or, The Unrevealed 

Secret. By Talvi. 12ujo 

Cloth, 75 

Holmes's Tempest aii<I Sun- 
shine ; or, JAfc inKentncky. 
12ino Cloth, 1 00 

The English Or- 

plians. A Tale. 12ino. Cloth, 75 

Home is Home A Domestic 
Story. 12n)c Cldh, 75 

Home; or. The Ways of the 
World. By Hrs. Iteovcs. ] vol. 
( I n press.) 

Iloiiseholil Mysteries. By the 

Author of "Light and Darkness." 

1 vol. 12mo 1 00 

Hunt's I'nntological System 
of History. Folio, Cloth, 8 00 

Iconn;;rapliic Cyclopajdia of 
.Science, Utcratnrc, and 
An. Sv>U'mnticalIy Ar- 



ranged. Illustrated with 500 fine 
steel plate engravings. 6 vols. 

Half morocco, 40 GO 

Or in full morocco, 50 00 

Or in separate divisions :— 

The Laws of Nature; or, 
Mathematics, Astronomy, 
Physics, nn<l Meteorology 
Illustrated. AVith an Atlas of 
twenty-nine steel plates, containing 
twelve hundred illustrations. 2 
vols. Cloth, 5 00 

The Sciences; or, Cheinistry, 
.Mineraiosy , and tJeoIogy Il- 
lustrated. With an Atlas of 
twenty-four steel plates, containing 
one thousand illustrations. 2 vols. 

Cloth, .3 00 

The .Vnatomy of the Hunmn 
Body; or. Anthropology Il- 
lustrated. With an Atlas of 
twenty-two bteel plates, containing 
six hundred illustrations. 2 vols. 

Cloth, 3 00 

The Countries and Cities of 
the World; or, C>eography 
Illustrated. Including a Com- 
plete German and English Geo- 
graphical Glossary. AVith an Atlas 
of forty -four steel plates, containing 
Geographical Maps and Plans of 
Cities. 2 vols. Cloth, 5 00 

The Customs and Costumes of 
People of .Vncientnnd .^lod- 
ern Times; or, History and 
Ethnology Illustrated. AVith 
an Atlas of eighty-one steel plates, 
containing fourteen hundred illus- 
trations. 2 vols Cloth, 8 00 

The Warfare of All -Ages ; or, 
-Military .Sciences Illustrat- 
ed. With an Atlas of fifty-one 
steel plates, containing fifteen hun- 
dred illustrations. 2 vols.. .Cloth, t, 00 



s 



^. ^ppkton tC' (EnrnpHnu's |,lnbIitaiionf. 



mSCELLANEOUS-Continued. 



The Navigation of All Ages; 
or,>i'nv:il Siriencc lllu!»trat- 

cJ. W'ith an iUhis of thirty-two 
steel plates, conta ninssix hundred 
illustrations. 2 volt Clotb, 4 00 

The Art of BiiililiUk; in An- 
cient and 3Iodern 1 'uies ; 
or, Architecture Illustrai 

cd. With an Atlas of sixty steel 
plates, containing 1100 illustrations. 
•2 vols Cloth, 6 00 

Tlie Religions of Ancient and 
3Iodern Times ; or, Mythol- 
ogy Illustrated. With an 
Atlas of thirty steel plates, contain- 
ing eight hundred illustrations. 2 
vols Cloth, 4 00 

The Fine Arts lllnstrated. 

Being a Complete History of Sculp- 
ture, Fainting, and the Graphic 
Arts, including a Theory of the 
Art of Drawing. With an Atlas of 
twenty-six steel plates, containing 
five hundred illustrations. 2 vols. 
Cloth, 

Technology Illustrated. Being 
a Series of Treatises on the Con- 
struction of Koads, .1 ridges. Canals, 
Hydraulic Engine; Flouring and 
Spinning Mills, and on the Prin- 
cipal Proceedings in Cotton Manu- 
facture, Coining, Mining, Me- 
tallurgy, Agriculture, &c. With 
an Atlas of thirty-five steel plates, 
containing 1,100 engraving.- 2 
vols Cloth, 

A very few copies only remain of the 
above. Early orders are neces- 
sary to secure them. 



4 00 



4 00 



lO. A Tale of the Ancient 
Fane. By Barton. 12mo. Cloth, 75 

Irish (The) Abrontl an<l at 
Home, at the Court and in 
the Camp. 12mo Cloth, 1 00 

Ishain's 3Ind Cabin ; or, Char- 
acter and Tendency of Brit- 
ish Institutions. 12nu). Cloth, 1 00 



James, Henry. The Nature 

of Evil, considered in a 

Letter to the IJcv. Ed^-ard 

Beccher, D.D. 1 vol. 16mo. 

Cloth, 1 

James, G. P. K. and I>I. B. 

Field. Adrien ; or. The 

Clouds of the Mind. 12uao. 

Cloth, 

Jameson (>Irs.) Conimon- 
olace Book of ThouglUs, 
I>l,-«iiories, and Fancies. 

12mo Cloth, 

Half calf extra, 1 

Johnson, A. B. Che Cleaning 
of Words. 12nio Cloth, 1 

Johnston's Chemistry ot » om- 
inon Life. Illustrated with nu 
merous woodcuts. 2 vols. 12mo. 

Cloth, 2 

In sheep, 2 

In half calf, 4 



Juno Clifl'ord. A Tale. 

Lady. W^ith illustrations. 



By a 
12mo. 
Cloth, 1 



00 



75 



75 
75 

00 



1 1 
25 
00 



25 



Kavanagh, Julia. Women of 

Christianity, Exemplary for 

Piety and Charity. 12mo. 

Cloth, 

Nathalie. A Tale. 



12nio Cloth, 1 

Madeleine. 



12mo. 
Cloth, 

Daisy Burns. 12nK>. 
Cloth, 

Grace Lee. ..Cloth, 

Rachel Gray 



The same. 



12mo. 
Cloth, 
6 volumes. 
Half calf, 10 



Keats' Poetical Works. 1 vol. 

12mo Cloth, 1 

Gilt edges, 1 
Antique or extra morocco, 3 



00 



00 
00 

75 
00 

00 
50 
50 



LEMy'12 



